The Amazing Jaune Arc
by Brotherhoof12
Summary: Jaune always wanted to be a hero, that's why he enrolled into Beacon hoping it will give him the chance to do so. What he got was a rejection letter for his troubles. Now living in Vale with no direction Jaune asks himself if he will ever have the chance to be what he dreamed to be. Turns out his question was answered with a spider bite.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Along came the Spider-Man

 **Beta Reader: Maestro Of Madness**

 **Thanks to his help my first chapter is much better. If you have the time make sure to check his stories too. Thank you!**

* * *

The Kingdom of Vale never sleeps. People were still walking on the kingdom streets, drivers were honking their horns at whoever crossed them, and stores were still open at night trying to get more customers before closing shop.

"Ok, that's the last of it." A boy with blond hair said while putting away the last shipment of Dust inside the store.

"Thank you, Jaune." The owner of the store said while giving the Dust driver his signature.

The driver double checked the paperwork before giving the old man a nod of thanks and driving away.

With the driver gone the owner and his clerk walked back inside the store to get the new shipment of Dust on the shelves for the next day.

"Ahhh, I'm glad we didn't get too much today. I'm not sure if I could lift another crate." Jaune said to his boss.

"Good thing too," The old man checked the time on his watch before looking back to his employee. "Why don't you check the front of the store and man the counter? I'll do some inventory on what we got before closing."

"You got It, Mr. Macarren."

Walking back to the front of the shop Jaune stepped behind the counter and checked how much was made today. Right when he was finished with counting the lien the front door bell rang, signaling a customer has entered. Putting back the money Jaune looked at the new customer wondering why they would be here at this time of night.

What he saw was a small girl dressed in black with red corset frills giving off a gothic look. The most prominent garment on her was the bright red hood obscuring most of her face, making it harder for him to see what she looked like. He thought that she must be here to look around but was soon proven wrong when he spotted what looked to be an ammo belt hanging around her thin waist with a large rectangular object poking out behind her back. The cashier knew not many people wear clothes like that, especially around his age that carries weapons without getting arrested.

 _She's a Huntress..._

Just the word itself made Jaune's smile instantly turn into a frown. As soon as the word passed through his head he banished it from his mind and gave her his best smile to welcome her for entering his boss's shop.

"Hello ma'am, do you have anything in particular you want from us? We just got a new shipment of Dust, so I'm sure we can provide you with whatever you need."

The girl in the red cloak looked around the store before shifting her sights back at the blonde's bright sapphire eyes peering into her silver ones. The small eye contact was soon cut short when she looked down at the counter before speaking.

"Um, do you sell the latest gun magazines?" She asked.

"Just a few shelves down and you'll see our weapons catalogue. Hoping you might find something you like?"

The question seemed to make her a little more social as she pulled down her hood and spoke to him in a less nervous manner.

"Just checking to see what new weapons are out." She seemed a bit more excitement now that they were talking about weapons.

"Oh, so does that mean you're a huntress?" Se must've found the question amusing as she giggled before scratching her now red cheeks.

"No, I'm only in training. I'm currently on my way to Beacon." The words seemed to give the girl some confidence in her voice as she started to get more comfortable speaking with the boy behind the counter, though it seemed to have the opposite effect on the young man.

 _Beacon..._

Jaune took a slow breath before speaking to her again. He made sure his voice didn't show what he was starting to feel tense himself.

"Wow, you must've done something spectacular if you're enrolling to that school." He tried his best to fake his enthusiasm.

Her face became even more enflamed, causing her arms to flail around in embarrassment.

"No, no, I'm just a normal 15-year-old girl. There's nothing really special about me."

"Your 15?!" This time it was Jaune's turn to be surprised. The red colored girl stood frozen, like a deer in head lights.

"Y-yes." She said as her nervousness started coming back.

"Man, Beacon's going to be an interesting year. I hope you'll enjoy your time there." He tried to give her a small, reassuring, smile. Seeing as the girl's still silent the cashier used this opportunity to introduce himself.

"I'm Jaune Arc. Nice to meet you miss..."

"Ruby. I'm Ruby Rose." She said while also reaching for his hand and giving him a hand shake. With her name now known, Ruby lifted her hood off her head to show her young pale face and short red tinted black hair. Seeing her entire face Jaune noticed how cute she was.

"Well, Ms. Rose, you must be really excited to be learning in Beacon." Jaune said as he brought his hand back to his side.

"Yeah, I always wanted to become a Huntress. It's been my dream since I was a kid." She seemed to be proud of her acceptance.

 _Me too..._

"Well, I know you're going pass whatever they throw at you. You're going to do amazing at Beacon." His compliment caused her blush to return to her cheeks.

Ruby never got complement like these from boys. They usually go to her older sister, but now that she's getting one it made her even more embarrassed then usual. She pulled her hood back over her head again and tried to conceal her flustered face. She wanted to say something, but her words keep getting stuck in her throat as she stood in silence.

 _Ugh! Curse my social awkwardness! Please let something happen to stop this awkward silence!_

"Jaune, I need you to move some boxes for me." The Dust owner came out from the back while looking at some shipment papers.

 _Oh, thank goodness!_

Noticing the customer at the front he set aside his clipboard and gave her his friendly welcome.

"Sorry for interrupting. I'm Mr. Macarren, the owner of this shop. Is everything to your liking?"

"Oh, yes, Jaune just helped me so I was just having a normal conversation. Yup. Normal." Ruby seemed glad that there was someone else here to make it less weird for her when talking to Jaune.

"Well I'm glad he could help you with what you needed. Jaune, I finished the inventory I just need you to move some boxes for me. You know these old bones can't lift like they used to." The old man said making Jaune and Ruby laugh at his joke.

"Yes sir." Jaune said before vanishing into the back of the shop.

"Is he your only worker?" Ruby asked the owner.

"Yup. Honest boy, gave him this job as soon as I heard what happened to Ben." The man said in a somber tone causing Ruby to wonder who this 'Ben' is before deciding not to push further in to personal matters.

"So, is there anything else you need, little lady?" Just as fast as the gloomy moment came it left when the old man smiled at Ruby as if nothing happened.

"No, just needed to check some weapon magazines. That's all."

"Ok, if you have any more questions just let me know."

"Thank you." Ruby made a quick turn and went to the magazines, disappearing from the owner's view.

Seeing as she's the only customer Mr. Macarren left the front counter and flipped the sign on the window from 'OPEN' to 'CLOSED' and went back to the counter to get ready for whatever the girl needed to buy.

As he reached the counter he heard the front door bell ring followed by several footsteps. He didn't want to be rude to his customers, but even he needed to be assertive whenever people decide to enter when the stores closed.

"I'm sorry but we're cl-" His words immediately died in his throat when he saw several armed men with guns and axes, wearing red sunglasses and bowler hats. He immediately raised his hands in the air.

"The lien's all there," The old man pushed a button on the register causing the cash drawer to open, revealing the money. "Take it. I don't want any trouble." He said in an evenly tone hoping to hide his fear.

"We're not here for the money." The man in the center of the group said. "We just want the Dust." Turning to face his crew, he flicked his head at them to get to work before looking at the old man and making sure he won't do anything stupid.

"Anyone else here?"

"N-no, just me." He said, hoping the girl saw them before they did and left from the back of the store. He hoped Jaune did the same, but hoped Jaune was trying to contact the police before the thieves left with the Dust.

The man's reflected shades stared at the old man for a few seconds before turning back to his fellow thugs.

"Done yet?" He asked them.

"Almost we just need to check the-"

CRASH

The sound of something breaking caused the armed robbers to draw their weapons as the old man to visibly shook.

"You said you're the only one here." The leader of the group said while pointing his gun at the Dust owner.

"I-I'm telling the truth, I swear." The old man said while wiping away his sweat forming around his head.

"One of you, check in the back."

With a quick nod one of the thugs went to the back of the Dust shop to make sure no one else was working, causing the Mr. Macarren to start breathing irregularly.

"Wait!" He shouted trying to stop the man from entering the back, but was soon stopped when the leader pushed him back to the counter.

"I'd think twice if I were you." To make his threat even more real, he cocked back the hammer of his pistol and pointed it at the owner to show he wasn't afraid to take a life this night.

"Please, just take the lien and the Dust," He begged. "I lied about me being the only one here ok. I have a kid that works here, and he has an aunt that needs the money, so please don't hurt h-" The old man was struck by the gangster's pistol. The elderly man brought a hand up to his now bleeding nose as it started to overflow off his hands and onto the tile floor.

"Shut. Up. I'm starting to reconsider if I should let you live." Using his pistol, he lifted the old man's chin so that he stared into his crimson reflected lenses. "As a matter of fact," The cold barrel kissed the old man's forehead. "Why should I even care?"

"HEY!" A voice yelled out from the back of the store. The leader turned his pistol to whoever shouted, but before he could fire his eyes were clouded by rose petals, followed by gunshots and screams.

* * *

If Ruby Rose had to sum up her entire month with one word, I'd would be 'Unlucky'. She tried to find her sister, only to find her causing a massive bar fight. Then the week after that, she stopped a Dust robbery, but the criminals escaped, and she was the one in the police station being asked questions rather than the thugs who were captured. That was a week ago and now here she is again stopping another Dust robbery from happening. She was glad she had the element of surprise this time. It gave her enough time to use her Scroll to alert the authority's.

She hoped she could take them down when they were about to leave and not risk them taking a hostage, but that was ruined when a loud crash was heard coming from the back of the shop.

 _Jaune!_

The rest of the group pulled out their weapons with one of them leaving the group to find out who caused the noise. The soon to be Beacon student was now even more anxious on what their next move is. If they find Jaune it'd make it even harder for her to stop them from escaping if they decided to use them as a human shield. As soon as the old man moved to stop the crook he was stuck by the leader's pistol. Seeing the man struck caused Ruby to replace her anxiety with anger.

As soon as she saw that she decided to move out of her hiding spot and use her Semblance to stop the crook from pulling the trigger. She knew she should've waited for a professional Huntsmen to arrive, but she couldn't just stand around and do nothing when people are suffering.

"HEY!" She screamed is hopes of diverting his attention away from the old man.

The thug turned in her direction as she activated her Semblance and used her body to push him away from the shop owner as a cascade of rosses obscured everyone's vision.

"Are you ok?" She turned to the owner with a concern seeing so much blood.

"I'm fine." He said nasally. "But Jaune's in the back."

"I'll get him." She was about to stand up but was stopped when the old man grabbed her arm.

"I'll go get him, you handle the crook." He told her. "Don't argue with me, you have to stop these guys."

Before she could tell him to stop he got on his feet and dashed to the back of the store to get his employee out of the fray, leaving her to handle the rest of these goons.

"Are you ok?!" One of them asked.

"Shut up and get the Dust! We're leaving! We can't handle a Huntress!" The thug Leader ordered his men to move as the red girl prepared to stop them from stealing any more Dust.

Using her Semblance again, she dashed to the group of criminals holding cases of Dust, transformed her weapon to her scythe, and with the shaft of her weapon swiped the cases way from them. She fired behind her to use the momentum to push them out of the Dust shop and into the open streets. She thought that with open space she would have more room to move with her scythe, but what she didn't know was that there were more thugs waiting outside.

"Get her!" One of the crooks yelled as the rest charged her with reckless abandon.

Ruby counted half a dozen in total, each holding axes, pipes, and pistols. She knew that she can hold them off, but she also needed to make sure they don't go back inside the shop to take the Dust. So, with a quick flick of her wrist, she readied Crescent Rose.

The crooks used their numbers to overwhelm her, but they were soon pushed back when she shifted her weapon into its original form and started to unload round after round at them. Each round aimed at their weapons to disarm them before she quickly appeared close to their guard with her changed weapon and sent them flying away from the store.

The crooks weren't organized and tried to attack with clumsy strikes and use of numbers, but with her Huntress training in use it soon became a battle of nutrition with the thugs already losing their stamina. It seemed as the battle was soon to be over when the sound of a Dust round was fired, bringing the fight to a halt.

"I'd drop my weapon if I were you!" Said the thief while holding a pistol to the old man's head.

 _Dang it! I forgot the one at the back of the store!_

"I said drop it!" To show he means business be kicked the back of the old man's legs, causing him to get on his knees with the pistol now aimed at the back of his head.

She could try and shoot the weapon out of his hands, but she didn't want to risk the chance of the thug still being able to pull the trigger. With a frustrated growl she formed her scythe back to its holster state and place it on the ground next to her.

"Kick it over here." He ordered her.

 _Sorry Crescent Rose._

Doing what he said, Ruby kicked Crescent Rose near the old man and placed her hands above her head to show her that she was harmless. As soon as the weapon was away from her the rest of the criminals went back to the shop to get the Dust with only a few staying behind to watch over the hostages.

"You hurt?" The thug with the gun asked his leader.

"Just my pride," He said while wiping off the dirt from his bowler hat. "Did you find out if anyone else is there?"

"Just the old man." To add insult to injury he pushed the old man on the ground. The owner of the store to groan in pain at the rough treatment.

"Just you wait. Jaune's coming back with the police. You might as well give up." The old man said to them while trying get back up. Before he could a shoe slammed down on his back. Ruby was about to activate her Semblance again, but stopped when the gun went back to the old man's head.

"Just stay where you are, Red." The leader said while picking up an axe from the ground. "I'm sure you'll know what will happen if you decide to play hero."

Walking to the Huntress-in-training the thug raised the axe above her head. She decided to close her eyes and await the incoming strike.

 _I'm sorry Yang, dad, uncle Qrow._

"This is what you deserve for trying to play hero!"

 **TWIP!**

Before the axe could to touch her a thick tread of webbing shot out of nowhere and stuck itself on the axe. With a strong yank the strand flew back along with the weapon as the man holding it stared at his now empty hand.

"WHO'S THER-MMFFF!" Just as he was about to shout a second string attached itself on his mouth causing him to pull at the web. As he was pulling the web with all his might another shot of webbing latched itself to his hands, making it impossible to break free.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you not to hit a girl. Especially if it involves sharp objects." A disembodied voice spoke, causing the other crook holding the gun to panic.

"Who's there!? I swear if you don't show yourself I'll make sure this old geezer's brain touches the pavement!" The robber screamed out.

"Ok, if you insist."

The crook was expecting the police or a Huntsman to appear before him, but was surprised to see some weirdo jump off a light post wearing nothing but a bright red jumpsuit with large white compound eyes and a blue sleeveless hoodie with a slanted spider symbol on his chest.

"What's with the get up?" He asked before pointing his gun at the masked stranger walking towards him.

"Really? The suit with the spider logo not ringing any bells?" The masked man kept walking to the armed criminal before stopping a few steps away, making it easier for the gangster to fire his gun at the masked freak if he decided to stop him.

"I said, who are you!?" His patients was running low. The masked figure puffed up his chest and placed his hands on his waist.

"I'm Spider-Man." He said in a deep and menacing tone trying to scare the criminal even further, but instead it made him look more confused.

"Who?"

Spider-Man let out a loud sigh before dropping his arm from and placed a hand on his face.

"You know... the friendly neighborhood wall crawler." The criminal still looked confused as to who he is. "I've been on the news a few times! Well, on Scroll videos, but I'm well known 'round her- you know what? Why am I explaining this to you?"

He went back to walking up to the crook. The thug's trigger finger got tighter around the handle and fired several rounds of Dust into strange man's chest.

 **BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!**

Each round was aimed at his chest, and each round missed its mark as Spider-Man dodged each shot with ease. Each time faking his fear while the gangster screamed in frustration.

 _Holy smokes he's fast!_

Ruby stared in amazement at how quickly he dodged those bullets at such close range. Even with her speed she still needed time to get ready, and yet he dodged each one with little to no effort. After the last round was fired the man called Spider-Man pointed his hands at the criminal as though he was about to punch him.

It caught both the robber and Ruby off guard to see that the same webbing that stopped the first robber come out of his wrists and cover the gun with the sticky fluid. The masked man tugged his webs back with the gun now in his gloved hands, leaving the robber completely defenseless.

"That'll be no more of this, thank you very much." Spider-Man snapped the gun in half and tossed the pieces away.

"Please, don't hurt me." The robber begged.

"Relax," The wall crawler said before shooting a web at the criminal's hands and legs. "The police will take care of you guys. I'm just making sure you're all tied up in a nice webbed bow."

"Shit! John! Mark! Where are you guys? There's a freak in a jumpsuit trying to stop us!" The criminal screamed to his friends to try and get the rest of his crew to bust him from his restraints, but was only answered by barely recognizable groans inside the store.

"Ohhhhhh, so that's their names." Spider-Man struck his fist into his open palm. "In my head I keep calling you guys 'thugs', 'crooks', and 'criminals'. it was getting really confusing for me since you guys all dress the same."

As soon as he said that the cops started to arrive. The arrival of reinforcements sent a calm wave to spread over Ruby's body and a sigh of relief to leave her.

"MMMMPFFFFF!"

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about you." Spider-Man seemed surprised that he forgot another robber was here.

Seeing that the spider was walking towards him the robber with the web covering half of his face decided to make a break for it. He only took three steps before Spider-Man's web grabbed both his legs, causing him to fall face first on the street.

"Wow, that must've really hurt." Spider-Man wrapped his webs around the downed criminal. "Oh, and if you're wondering where the rest of your posse is, they're in the back wrapped up and ready for the cops."

To show that he was right the sound of sirens were heard in the distance. The police cars were getting closer to the crime scene with the thugs waiting for them to be sent to jail.

"That's my signal to leave. Have fun at prison, fellas." Spider-Man extended his hand out to one of the tall buildings and was about to shoot off a web before he heard someone wheezing in pain.

"Wait, please wait." The old man said while coughing into his fist. "Have you seen a young boy with blond hair?"

"He made it to the police and is waiting at the station. You don't have to worry about him." Spider-Man reassured the Dust store owner. As if a huge weight was lifted off him the man grabbed the wall crawler's hand and shook it repeatedly as a sign of gratitude.

"Thank you, thank you very much for saving me." He said with tears of joy leaking from his eyes.

"Any day sir, any day." Spider-Man shot a web to a nearby building and web swinged away from the now the thankful civilian and the still stunned Ruby Rose.

Ruby's shock soon passed. She quickly ran to her weapon and headed inside the store to make sure none of the crooks escaped, but like Spider-Man said the thugs that were trying to steal the Dust were hanging upside down, wrapped in webbing with a small note written: 'Lost gangsters, need a home. Preferably the police station. Thank you, Spider-Man.'

 _A superhero._

That word echoed in her head, trying to come to terms with what she saw this night. She was supposed to handle a situation like this. She did encounter a situation like this not too long ago, and yet as soon as they took a hostage it spiraled out of control. Her dad and uncle would scold her for what happened, they taught her better than this, she knew better than this. And yet, as soon as she was disarmed she was at their complete mercy.

 _A superhero saved me._

It was as if the comics she read as a kid came out of the panels and sprang into action to stop evildoers. She'd never seen or heard of anyone actually dressing up in a costume to do this in real life. Yet what happened just a few minutes ago made all her talks with her family about superheroes completely vanish when a spider themed hero came out of nowhere and saved them in their time of need.

 _I can catch up to him, see if he's the real deal._

With her speed Semblance she could do that, but the image of the old man with tears of joy and relief in his eyes made her stop her train of thought.

 _Thank you, thank you very much for saving me._

The thought of her chasing after him was immediately discarded as the elderly citizen's well-being came first.

She wanted to be a Huntress to help people from terrible misfortune and defeat the Grimm, just like her dad, like her uncle, her older sister...

 _Just like my mother_.

Her question can wait. If she knew heroes like they usually are in the comics, then she'll meet Spider-Man whenever trouble arrives to harm the innocent. And maybe, just maybe, she can do her own personal investigation involving this hero and his exploits when she's studying at Beacon.

* * *

 _Can't believe they think I was a Huntsmen. Even I know a Huntsmen won't be caught dead wearing a get up like this._

Web slinging for the past five minutes the wall crawler made sure to stay above ground, so the police won't spot him while they handle the rest of the goons tied in Mr. Macarren's shop. It was supposed to be a simple night with inventory and stacking shelves, but then they had to show up and ruin everything.

 _Oh well, more web pics for the Spidey. I'm sure these pictures will get me the extra lien I need for next month's bills._

Finally landing on the roof of a three-story building, Spider-Man grabbed a camera that was webbed on the side of a wall pointed directly where the action took place just a few moment ago. Checking to make sure the photos are in clear resolution, he jumped off the roof and slowly descended to the floor without causing too much noise for anyone to notice him.

 _Some might think that I'm a glory dog for the attention, but they should understand how hard it is trying to put food on the table._

Sensing that no danger was nearby, the hero finally removed his mask, ruffling his blonde hair to get back to its original messy style. His blue eyes scanned the dark alley way to locate his clothes. Ever since he ran away from home to move to Vale the young teen hoped that being accepted to Beacon would finally be his chance to achieve his dream.

To become a hero.

What he didn't account for (or simply ignored) was when Beacon rejected his letter, causing him to spiral into depression and wander the streets of Vale wondering what happens next. Thankfully an elderly couple took pity on him and decided to take him under their roof in hopes to get him back on is feet.

Their names are Ben and May Parker, and Jaune was forever indebted to their act of kindness to let someone like him to enter their lives.

 _Ok, I know that I left them... bingo!_

Reaching behind an over encumbered dumpster, Jaune grabbed his normal attire wrapped in his webbings and ripped it open. He pulled out the normal attire and covered his spider costume with them.

 _Thank you, night vision. I'm sure a normal human wouldn't be able to walk in a straight line like I could._

Ever since the rejection from Beacon Jaune was trying to look for a stable job to help Mr. and Mrs. Parker with the bills, so when on a job hunt he found a position for a janitor at a science lab that studies animal biology. Turns out one of the animals, a spider they were experimenting on, had escaped and just like his luck it decided to bite him before dying in his hands.

 _Alright, I should get back to the station and wait for Mr. Macarren. I don't want him to wonder where I've been If he doesn't see me there._

It started out slow. He could stick to any surface, produce organic webbing, night vision, strength, speed, and incredible agility. Every day it seemed that he learns new things about himself and it was all thanks to that spider that bit him. This was his chance, a chance for him to become what he wanted since he was a kid. The only problem is that Vale doesn't take kindly to vigilantes, so every time he dawns his spider persona and does some good in the kingdom they call for the police to try to put him behind bars.

 _I'm starting to wonder why there's so many thefts all over Vale. I should probably take tomorrow off, try to figure out why there becoming so pro-active all of a sudden. I don't want anyone to endure the same harassment Mr. Macarren had to go through._

With his mind set to figure out what's happening In Vale, Jaune ran out the alleyway and sprinted back the police station before his boss arrives. Being himself was the easy part, being Spider-Man and saving people while keeping his identity a secret was another thing entirely.

Even if 'Jaune Arc', the average everyday guy, couldn't become a Huntsman and help people, 'Spider man', the superhero, could. After all a great man once told him; with great power comes great responsibility.

And Jaune would always live by Mr. Parker's advice. He already failed him once and he would be damned if he would fail anyone else if he has the power to help them.

* * *

 **Hope you all enjoy my first FanFic about Jaune being declined from beacon and found a different way to help people. There are other stories with the same concept about Jaune not getting into beacon so go check those out too, but before you do make sure to leave a comment about how you feel about this story and like and fav if you really enjoy it. Thank you**

 **I know the first question is why Jaune is replacing Peter Parker being spider man and the reason is that I wanted Jaune to another way to be a hero, even how he got it might not what he expected he still has the same morals at Peter parker making him an excellent character for the role.**

 **Another is Jaune's intelligence and powers. I know that he is smart and good leadership instinct, but he is not genius level then Peter and his inventions. So I decided to use Peter's clones Ben Reilly and Kaine's abilities to make Jaune be spider man in my story. I will have Jaune go to school of course, someone his age should still get a proper education even if It's not beacon so he will get smarter as the story progresses.**

 **The costume choice is of course is Ben Reilly's costume the scarlet spider, I really liked his costume so since I was using Peter's clone I decided he should use his costume too, it also fits Jaune's theme with the whole hoodie thing, but replace the color black and the bunny to a blue sleeveless hoodie with a spider instead.**

 **If I left out any more answers fell free to drop a few questions in the comment section and i will answer most of them when the next chapter starts.**

 **All Pictures, and Spider man are owned by Marvel. I do not own Marvel or RWBY.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Jaune's basic day off

 **Beta-reader: Maestro of Madness**

 **Thanks to this person you all can read without being confused with my writing. I know you guys will see the difference between the first chapter and this one and realize how great this chapter is. Go read his work if your interested, but before you do make sure you leave a comment about this story and if you have a question I will answer it on the next chapter.**

* * *

"Are they still showing that spider guy on the news again?" Ruby's partner said, as if she was surprised there still showing him on the news.

Now that Ruby was a student of Beacon, has her own team, a partner to always have her back, and full-fledged Huntsman and Huntresses to teach them, she should be happy with what she has.

Instead, she was using her time watching the latest news regarding the increase of crime, Roman Torchwick, and questions regarding why so much dust being stolen was important news, she knows that, but they're all minor things to her when compared to what she was really looking forward to when she watches the news.

Spider-man.

"You got to admit, he's pulling off the outfit pretty good. Really good now that I think about it." Yang said when she saw a picture of Spider-man mid-web swing to another building. "I guess some people really can pull off wearing tights, but only by a thin thread!"

"Yang, even if you're part of the team, I will not hesitate to pin you to the wall." Weiss told her while placing her hand on her weapon.

"Meh. I'm sure you'll be used to it, just like Blake. Right, partner?" Yang turned her head to see Blake on her bed. The book she was reading forgotten and replaced with her scroll showing the same news her little sister was watching.

"Yeah." Blake said while still keeping her eyes on the screen.

"See! She agrees that my jokes are funny just like my sister. Isn't that right, Ruby?"

"No."

"So close. Well, if you can still pay attention to me then that means you know we need to go to class soon." Yang said to her little sister followed by silence from Ruby.

"This is ridiculous! How are you supposed to be our team leader if you keep gawking over some fool wearing a mask and thinking he's a hero." Weiss shouted making Ruby snap out of her fixation and speak her mind.

"What if he is a hero?" Blake snapped at the heiress, causing everyone look at her in surprise.

Blake herself can only blush from embarrassment at how her outburst made her sound like she's also fan girl defending Ruby's idol. Ruby was a diehard hero worshiper, which was one of the reasons why she wanted to be a Huntress, but once Ruby told them that she saw an actual hero her fascination was set ablaze.

Ruby's side of the room had paper clippings of the web slinger stopping small time thugs, saving pedestrians from burning buildings, even just getting cats out of tall trees.

Blake wasn't into the whole hero business like Ruby was, she was only interested if Spider-man was like her. Someone who saw the injustice in the world and decided to take it upon themselves to stop it. Blake became a Huntress to do just that, but it seems he decided to do it in a different way, making her worry about what he's doing is the right thing.

 _What he's doing is very heroic, but I wonder what the White Fang would do if they decided to find him._

She can only assume it was a Faunus doing such good deeds. It's just hard to find out since he shows no notable characteristics.

 _He can stick to walls and shoot out webs, those can be explained by either a semblance or tool that allows him to do such things. If he shows his face maybe I could remember him when I was still part of the movement._

 _Maybe that's why he wears the costume, to make people guess if he's human or not_. That's the only reason she can come up with, since she's also wearing something to hide her true self.

"Whatever he's doing is stopping people from losing their businesses..."

"See!" Ruby said to her partner.

"But I don't like it that he's wearing a mask." Blake said causing Ruby to deflate and for Weiss to stand a little bit taller for someone finally agreeing with her.

"There you have it, just because he's stopping crimes doesn't mean he should hide who he is. He's a bad influence on young minds, thinking that they should use their semblance and take the law in their own hands." Looking at the pictures above Ruby's bed the young Schnee can only shake her head at how he's dressed. "It just makes it worse since he's wearing a costume with most of the people spewing nonsense that of him being a superhero."

"He is a hero! Right, Yang?" Ruby asked Yang while giving her best puppy dog eyes.

"I don't know," She said while scratching the back of her head. "I mean I get that he shouldn't hide who he is, since anyone of us could do the same thing, but I'm still going to say that so long as the guy is doing good then he should keep on doing it."

"YAY!"

"Are you serious, Yang?" Weiss asked her with surprise to how easily she caved to her little sister's puppy dog eyes.

"Should you really complain, he's practically saving you lien with him stopping all those dust robberies."

"That's beside the point! If he keeps doing this then more people will follow his example and make their own belief of justice. Am I right, Blake?" Weiss turned her head to expect at least the one person with her head on straight to agree with her.

"Y-yeah, you're right." Blake said as if she was trying to swallow something she disliked.

The argument soon turned into a debate about what Spider-man is doing is right or wrong before their scrolls signaled them that class is about to start.

"Oh my gosh! We'll be late for our first day of school!" Ruby shouted causing the rest of her team scrambled out of their room to get to class on time.

Only for them to be stopped when a large group of reporters blocking their only exit.

"Hey! What's the big idea?!" Yang said only for her question to be ignored by them.

"You dolt! Don't you remember who lives across from us?" Weiss asked Yang as if she had short term memory loss.

"Wait, all of these guys are here for Pyrrha?" Ruby asked while hopping up and down to see where her other friend is.

 _Ugh! Curse my height! How much milk will I need before I grow dang it!?_

"Yes! She's the strongest Huntresses of our generation so far and a well-known celebrity! She's even the leader of her own team."

"You mean the team that only has three people and not four like the rest of us." Blake spoke before taking a few steps back when of the reports were pushed back due to how many are trying to leave through the small exit.

"Her lawyers made a huge argument that caused a lot of controversies between the two kingdoms, so Vale decided to make a compromise for her to stay even though she has no partner." The reporters finally left the exit allowing team RWBY to get back to running to class. "Reporters are here for Beacon to cash in on the publicity."

"That must really suck for her, always having to watch her back, seeing cameras everywhere you go." Ruby's sad gaze caught a glimpse of her friend walking along with team, Ren and Nora, each at her side trying to shield her from all the flashing cameras and annoying reporters.

"We can feel sorry for her while we're at class, we only have 10 minutes!" Yang scream caused the rest of the girls to run around the large herd of news reporters.

Their start of the day may have been unexpected, but with what they've been though in initiation made them more than ready for what this year has in store for them.

Even with so many problems already starting, Ruby can only feel as if today was going to be the best day ever.

* * *

What Jaune considered his best day for him was when he had a day off. Which was technically days off at work, but when consider that he has school on the weekdays it soon became even more apparent to him when his 5:00am alarm clock wakes him up.

"Augh."

Stretching one arm out of his bed, he reached for his alarm clock on his night stand to turn it off only to feel nothing. Cracking one crusted eye open he saw that the clock that was still ringing with its obnoxious tone on top of his study desk facing him. As if taunting Jaune to get off of his warm bed, turn it off, and get ready for school. The young spider instead used a single string of webbing aimed at the alarm clock, pulled, and caused the clock to become airborne for about a second before it dropped on the floor, still playing the same annoying tune.

"UGHHHH!"

Still using one arm to pull the alarm clock closer the offending object now next to his bed. He was about to be shut off with the slam his fist before stopping a centimeter above the snooze button.

 _Remember what happened the last time, Jaune. Just use a fraction, of a fraction, of a fraction of your strength. Don't want to make the same mistake a **fifth** time around._

With just his index finger, he pressed the snooze button as gently as possible. With the silence returning he finally went back to sleep to count spiders in his dreams.

For about 10 seconds when he heard his name being called down stairs.

"Jaune, your breakfast is ready! You need to get ready for school!"

"UUGGGHHHH!"

Lifting his bed sheets off him and rubbing the morning crust out of his eyes, he walked in to his bathroom to start his morning rituals to begin the day. Turning the bathroom lights on he lifted both his eyes to look himself over in the mirror to see his hair messy, his face having no signs of facial hair, and his onesie still clean with no stains whatsoever, making part of his morning routine complete.

 _Ok, now for the next part._

Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, Jaune unzipped his pajamas, kicked it away, and opened his eyes to see what the mirror was showing him.

Before he ran away from home, his physique was less to be desired. He was scrawny and had no muscle mass making him look like he never lifted any weights in his life. It was hard for him to make people take him seriously due to that fact, especially whenever he tried to stop bullies that were targeting his sisters, or himself. It was even worse when he tried to train to become a Huntsman with his father only to be covered in bruises after a few minutes.

But when he was bitten by that spider he had to always look in the mirror every morning to make sure that the person in front of him was actually himself. Gone was the thin and weak body he had in Ansel. The body he now has is well toned with lean muscles showing no traces of fat, making him look like a seasoned athlete. It takes months, even years, to sculpt a body like this with intense training, dieting, and good genetics.

It only took him one night after he was bitten to look like he went through all that hassle.

His height, blonde hair, and blue eyes were the only good genetics he had going for him, but with his new physical appearance he would easily get girls to take a glance at him now and then.

The only problem now was his lack of confidence and zero experience talking to the opposite sex. Sighing to himself at the reality of his everyday dilemma, Jaune brushed his teeth, took a shower, and went back to his room to get dressed.

His room had nothing interesting to look at, just a desk to study, a book shelf, and a closet full of hand-me-down clothes the Parkers gave to him (another kind gesture he will never forget) making him wonder how he would've survived in this kingdom if not for them.

Seeing that he already had a small pile of dirty clothes forming in the corner, he decided to clean up his room before Mrs. Parker decided to clean it for him. She already has enough problems trying to take care of the house, he wouldn't burden her when it involves his small problems like taking care of his room.

Scooping all of the clothes he could hold in his arms, he placed his bare foot on his door, and with his ability to stick to any surface, opened the closet to reveal something he wished he would never see again.

His burden, his shame, his **_Crocea Mors_**.

N _o wonder I leave my clothes in a corner._

He brought this thing with him when he thought his entrance to Beacon was secured, but since he didn't get in it'd become a liability, a burden, an ornament to his dead dreams of ever being a Huntsmen. He could not, dare not, unsheathe the blade unless he wanted to open old wounds that could cause him reach for the sword and snap it in two. Even though his great great-grandfather used this weapon in the war, with the later generation of Arcs using the same blade.

Jaune dumped his filthy clothes on top of his families' ancestral blade, grabbed a set of new clothes, and slammed his closet shut with no feeling of regret at what he just did.

After all, a weapon is useless if you don't know how to use it.

HIs family couldn't help him since they're afraid it would cause more harm to him then good, so they hoped he would stick to studying and make a normal life for himself. Turns out they were right about him getting a normal job, but not the part where he's a crime fighting super hero.

"Jaune, are you awake? Your food's getting cold." Mrs. Parker voice held concern for why he's still in his room.

"I'm almost done." Jaune shouted while putting on his clean clothes. A few seconds of changing later, the young superhero was ready to leave his room. Before he left he grabbed his favorite cereal brand hoodie off of his night stand and walked down stairs to get ready for another day of school.

As soon as his shoes touched the ground his nose caught the scent of eggs and bacon making his stomach growl loud enough for Mrs. Parker to notice him enter the kitchen.

"Goodness, I knew you were hungry, but I never knew you could get that hungry." Mrs. Parker said while holding a frying pan full of scrambled eggs.

"Yeah, I'm a growing boy. Thank you for the food, Mrs. Parker." Jaune set another dining set across the table for her to eat breakfast.

"Now Jaune, you know you don't have to call me that." She chided the boy while pouring some eggs on to her plate and the rest to Jaune. He noticed that her portion is smaller than his, but he didn't want to argue with her at the beginning of the day. He pulled her chair for her to sit on and kissed her cheek.

"Thank you, aunt May." He soon sat down and they both said their prayers and started eating.

Mrs. Parker was the most charitable, kind, and sweet woman Jaune was glad to ever meet when he was in Vale with nothing to his name. Even when the years are catching up to her she's still able to take care of herself, the house, and him all on her own, even if she's a woman past her prime. Her age still held some of her vibrant blonde hair, blue eyes, and smooth skin, so she could easily pull off being Jaune's Aunt by appearance alone.

But ever since the loss of her husband her hairs started to lose its yellow glow and started to turn grey. Her blue sapphire eyes have started to fade as well, and her skin that was radiant now started to show wrinkles. Life's now showing the results on what it's doing to Aunt May and it's killing Jaune inside knowing that he's one of the reasons.

"How are you feeling today, Jaune?" Aunt May showed her concern for him after what transpired to Mr. Macarren's store a few days ago.

"I'm fine Aunt May, you don't have to worry about me so much." He tried his best to give her his reassuring smile.

 _Please stop worrying about._

"I know. It's just really scary knowing that it was so close to home." To show what she meant she left her seat to turn on the TV for Jaune to see what is happening in Vale.

"With the added news that the infamous Roman Torchwick has escaped, a number of dust shop thefts has increased exponentially over the months making many people of Vale worry about the future of this kingdom." The news anchorman reported on the recent string of robberies, showing pictures of shops ransacked with their dust stolen.

"You see, whenever you see something like that I want you to turn around and run-"

"That all changed though when several shop owners were apparently saved by the masked vigilante known only by the name: Spider-man." The pictures of dust shop robberies were soon changed to see Spider-man exiting out of a port-a-john with a piece of toilet paper stuck to his feet.

 _Wish they showed me in a different picture. Thanks, J.J. Your hate for Spider-man shows even on the news._

Jaune could let that go for the moment and smile, knowing the progress he's making wasn't a waste with how much crime has slowly stopped.

"Crimes involving dust have decreased these past few weeks making people notice the crime fighter's good deeds. Going to the streets, we have our news reporter asking the people of Vale what they think of Spider-man." The anchor man was soon replaced by a young woman in the middle of a busy part of Vale asking questions.

"Thanks, Chuck. As you can see around me many people are getting ready for work, but some are also looking up in hopes of seeing the Spider-man in action." The camera man shifted his sights to bystanders walking around to get to work while some were looking to the sky, seeing if they might catch a glimpse of the wall crawler web swing from building to building.

"I've asked many people about what they think of Spider-man and his crusade on crime. Here are their answers."

The next scene showed was different people, both human and Faunus, on what views they have on Jaune's actions of being Spider-man.

"I think what he's doing is a heroic act. The police can't stop this much crime, so it's nice knowing the fact we have someone else cleaning the streets and keeping us safe."

"He is a menace to this kingdom. He's probably some Huntsman deciding to take the law in his own hands."

"We have laws about people using their abilities without proper authority. That's why we have schools for kids that want to be Huntsmen, they need to have a proper license and registration for when and how they use their semblance."

"I pay my taxes, so the police do their jobs and they can't stop these crimes. This guy is risking his own life to stop these thugs for free. Tax payers should be paying this guy instead of the police."

"Huntsmen do their job and expect to get a reward for their troubles. Their nothing but mercenaries for hire either getting rid of Grimm or protecting people. Spider-man's doing the same thing but without asking for a reward for his action. Guy's a hero in my book."

"Do you know who wears masks and takes the law in their own hands? The White Fang. The guy's obviously a Faunus. I mean, he calls himself Spider-man for crying out loud. He may be stopping the crimes, but I'm sure he's also taking some dust for himself and his terrorist group."

"Many Faunus who are against the White fang are siding with Spider-man and his deeds. He's showing the humans that not all Faunus are like the White Fang."

"He's just making the Faunus community suffer even more. We need him to stop hiding behind a mask and show the world not all Faunus need to wear one. If he keeps hiding behind that mask of his he's no better than the White Fang and their own twisted brand of justice."

"That man saved me a few nights ago, I'll never forget what he did for me. If you're watching this Spider-man know that I'm grateful for what you're doing for our kingdom and we thank you."

"I think the dude's brave for wearing that costume everyday. How does he not get a bon-"

After they gave their answers it was soon shifted back to the news room with the anchorman giving his thanks to the reporter and her journalism.

"As you can see, many people have mixed reviews about our friendly neighborhood Spider-man, but to the Vale news crew we only have one question." For dramatic effect the camera zoomed in close for the man to say his question.

"Who is Spider-man?"

Aunt May turned off the TV and went back to eating her breakfast.

"That Spider-man sure is helping the kingdom." Jaune told Aunt May while scarfing down his food.

"Yes, he's doing good, but I'd prefer if you ever see him stopping crimes or doing anything dangerous, promise me you will run away." She said turning her head to look at picture across the room.

Jaune knew what picture it is, but he doesn't turn around to look at it. Instead he looks at his now empty plate before getting up from the table, taking the dishes off the table, and placing them in the sink. He walked behind Aunt May, still staring at the picture, and hugged her tightly, as if he ever let go she too might disappear.

"I promise you, Aunt May, I'll run away if I'm ever in trouble." Jaune tried his best to reassure her, taking a small glance at the picture of Uncle Ben, Aunt May, and another couple holding a small baby in their arms.

Jaune knows who they are, he knows what happened to them, and he also knows that he'll never replace her real family. All he can do is be there for her whenever she remembers what she lost and can never have back.

Unwrapping his arms around her she turned to see him, her eyes red with tears, and returned his hug with her own.

"Thank you, Jaune." She told him, her breathing choppy and incoherent as she tried to control her crying.

After a few minutes of crying, Aunt May finally let go of him. She looked at the kitchen clock and had a look of surprise at the time.

"Oh my goodness, Jaune you need to leave your bus is about to leave!"

"What!" Looking at the clock he saw that the time's already 6:30am.

His bus arrives around 6:25 giving him only five minutes before it leaves.

"I'll see you later, Aunt May." Quickly giving her a peck on the cheek, Jaune grabbed his back pack near the front door and ran to the bus before it leaves for school.

With crime slowly declining all he could do now is worry about his grades at school, bullies, and homework. With Spider-man stopping muggers from stealing dust, it'd only be a matter of time for something big to pop out of its hiding spot and try to put an end to Spider-man. He can only wonder why they'd want such large quantities of dust and risk getting caught.

An even scarier thought is who's control so many goons and making them get all this dust.

* * *

Roman Torchwick made sure he had a backup plan for any possible situation incase his life was at risk. From bribes, blackmail, and extortion the list goes on and on for any possible situation. Until someone came along and ruined any chance of escaping his current predicament.

"What do you mean you don't have any more men to supply me with?" Roman shouted at the person on the other end of his call.

"I did have enough men to help you, Roman. That changed when some guy wearing a leotard showed up and webbed them up." The person talking to Roman let out a loud sigh. "Can't believe I even said that sentence. You're going to have to accept the amount I'm giving you. Not many people are lining up to join you and your damn schemes anymore."

"What about your two bodyguards, Junior? I'm sure those two could waste that bug if you let me have them for just a few days." Roman said then took a long drag from his cigar.

"No can do," The man called Junior said without a second thought. "If the web guy somehow found out I'm part of whatever you're doing, I'm going to need all the help I can get."

"So, what, you're planning to just wait it out? The guy just showed up out of nowhere and you decide now to lay low?" Taking another long drag from his cigar Roman dropped it on the ground and squashed it under his shoe, leaving a small trail of cigars showing his nervousness.

"Sorry Roman," Junior said with no hint of caring. "But until I'm certain that the coast is clear you're on your own." Before he could talk, Junior hung up leaving Roman to scream in frustration.

It was bad enough that he was being forced to do things that doesn't benefit him in the least, but now he has to deal with some animal in a costume wasting his men and stopping him from doing what he was forced into doing.

Even some of the police on his payroll can't bust them out with so many being put behind bars. It'd make them seem suspicious if they tried to let them out the next day, so he couldn't use them or else they could get caught and spill the beans on who's working for him.

"Well, I guess I need to make do with what I got." Roman looked at only a dozen or so henchmen moving what little of dust they could get. His warehouse was supposed to be full of dust by now, but thanks to that so called 'hero' his warehouse was less than half of what he promised his benefactor would be.

"Neo," Roman called out with no answer before he heard glass shatter out of thin air, revealing a petite looking girl with multicolored hair and eyes blinking at him, as if she is asking a question.

"Seems we need to personally steal dust this time," The multicolored girl frown at such a mundane task. "If you haven't noticed, we're losing henchmen. Not by the police, not by Huntsman, but some delusional idiot dressed in a bug suit pretending to be a 'hero' for crying out loud!"

When Roman told her what was stopping them from stealing dust she wrapped her arms around her stomach in a silent laugh.

"You may think it's funny, but the one pulling our strings thinks otherwise."

He told her that she doesn't have to worry about just one guy parading around in a costume, that he can get his guys to take care of the problem and be done with it. Turns out Roman would be eating his own words when his underlings kept ending up in prison with less and less dust being sent to the boss lady.

"If you think it's funny then you should know that less henchmen means less practice dummies." Roman tried to give a reason for Neo to get serious, but she just shrugged her shoulders.

There're always other people for her to play with, henchmen were a dime-a-dozen, so she really didn't care if they get caught or not.

"Less henchmen also means no errand boys."

Neo just raised her eyebrow wondering again why she should care.

"No errand boys mean no one to get you ice cream." Roman said in satisfaction with how Neo's apathy turned to rage as soon as he told her what she liked most was at stake.

Now it was Neo's problem and Roman needs her to take this seriously, so they can take care of this bug problem before it turns into an infestation.

"Now you see the situation we're in?" Neo gave Roman a nod. "Good. Then we need to bait him into thinking we're just stealing dust like we've been doing. As soon as we see him try and stop the heist... well, you know the rest, right?"

Neo nodded and smiled wide enough to show teeth at what he was implying.

With Neo on board, Roman couldn't help but pull out another cigar out of his breast pocket. He placed it between his lips and used the end of his cane as a lighter and smoked it a bit more slowly to enjoy the taste.

"Let's show this Spider-man why there's no other heroes in Vale."

* * *

 **Ok, I know you guys expected more fighting in this chapter, but I wanted to show how Jaune lives as a normal guy. I also wanted to show his interactions with Aunt May and how she feels about the loss of her family. I know she is old in the comics, so I used the Aunt May in the new Spider-man movie and made her look more older (her hair and eye color are still based on the comics).**

 **This chapter was just a taste of what he has to go through as being a normal teenager then what he has to go though in beacon. Since he's technically not a huntsman and not in beacon he has no restrictions to be spider man and stop the crimes himself.**

 **Huntsman and huntresses are a license profession, so they are easily known if people have time to dig up information on them. But since Jaune isn't it would be harder for people to guess who Spider man is. Beacon also has rules that the students have to obey, Jaune is no student, making it even harder for the beacon staff to think it's one of their students.**

 **I also used Pyrrha's fame to the fullest in my story. I felt that it really didn't show much in the show, so I decided to use her fame to get what she wanted for a change. Even if it sort of backfired on her. Most celebrities get away with anything or let their lawyers deal with most legal things. Like initiation for example. So expect her to be followed by a lot of cameras, especially a certain blonde.**

 **I also know that most of you wanted team RWBY and NPR to come across Jaune, but I wanted to make this chapter about how different his life is compared to theirs. He will meet them, I promise you that.**

 **He just needs to survive what Roman and Neo has in store for him! HAHAHAHAHA!**

 **I like to thank my Beta Reader:** **Maestro of Madness, for helping me make this story better and you all should check his stories too. Don't for get to read this chapter first and leave a comment on what you like about it or what question you need to be answered.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Dust Heist Gone Bad

 **Beta-Reader:** **Maestro of Madness**

 **This was supposed to be released on Sunday, but due to unfortunates circumstances this chapter is out sooner. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter and give a comment on your thought about it. Thank you. Also, thank you for my Beta Reader for helping with this chapter.**

* * *

Whenever Jaune arrives to school, he always sees the many differences between the one he went back in Ansel and the school he's attending now. While the school in Ansel was a small, close knit community with its school holding many students with everyone knowing everyone. The school in Vale was much larger and had so much room and space to wander around it made him get lost on where to go on his first day.

This school is called Midtown High, and this is where Jaune will be getting his education for a better future. At least that's what he keeps telling himself whenever a situation like this happens.

"Move, Jauney boy." A large senior wearing a Midtown jersey said as he shoved Jaune out of his way with his shoulder even when Jaune was a fair distance away from him.

 _'At least one thing stays the same in any school I go to. It's like they know I'm a prime target to get pushed around.'_

He could deal with being lost at school every now and then, he can even get used to so many people being mean to him, but the one thing that gets him in a sour mood is where the school is located and what it's facing.

While Jaune's standing in the courtyard of the school, surrounded by a sea of both lower and upper classmen, a tall castle like tower could be seen looming over making him wonder if fate's telling him he could've been there, but decided against letting him join.

That large tower was part of a larger campus called Beacon Academy, where many talented and strong youths enter to become professional Huntsmen. A place Jaune has no right to ever set foot in, yet every time he goes to his normal school he looks up and sees the offending edifice, making him think of what it would be like being a student there.

The thought of attending Beacon made him think of the small Huntress-in-training he talked to while working at Mr. Macarren's shop.

I'm sure Ruby's doing fine at Beacon. If she was able to fend off those bowler hat guys with a weapon like that, she has nothing to worry about.

This caused Jaune to sigh in resignation. When he left the shop, and changed into his costume he found Ruby handling the situation on her own before one of them took Mr. Macarren hostage. If they decided to fight her instead it would've been Ruby taking them down and giving them to the cops, not him.

He was able to beat many criminals thanks to his spider abilities, but Jaune knew that if there was even a small chance he'd get into Beacon, he probably wouldn't have made it through the first day. The truth hurt for the young hero, but because of that truth it made him thankful for what it brought him.

 _'We may not have let you into Beacon, but we can let you have spider powers! The only down side is that you need to always be financially stable for the rest of your life! I'm pretty sure that's what the universe is saying to me.'_

Though the thoughts of what Beacon would be like still lingered, the boy stared at the tower for a few more moments before he heard a familiar voice speak to him from behind.

"Dude, you're still doing that thing when you get mopey looking at that school." His friend told him while placing both his arms on Jaune's shoulders and started to shake him from his funk.

The only friend he had in this school was Harry Osborn, and just like him he also enrolled to this school making Jaune relived that he wasn't alone here.

"Sorry, Harry, it's just really hard not to notice." The blond was about to look at Beacon again before his best friend shifted his body in the opposite direction.

"Jaune, seriously bro you need to let it go." Harry told him with sympathetic gaze.

The amount of people who knows Jaune's predicament can be counted on one hand. He didn't like to openly tell others his situation 'cause it made him look like he wanted people to feel sorry for him. But when he met Harry both boys understood the feeling of trying to live up to their dreams before reality pulled the rug under you.

"Kind of hard since It's literally at the center of Vale." Harry was about to say something to him when the school's speakers blared its horns signaling them go to class. "Come on, we don't want get caught in the 5-minute rush hour." Jaune placed his backpack over his shoulder and walked inside the building already seeing many students getting to their classroom.

Harry was taking longer strides to catch up to his friend, his look of concern still showing. "Look, I get that your still hung up on the whole rejection thing, but it's already been months since then. Shouldn't you be worrying about something more important?"

Harry was now in front of Jaune his sympathetic face now turned serious. "Like how you're supposed to make more lien to help Aunt May."

Jaune instantly shoved all his angst of not getting into Beacon and replaced it with plans to help Aunt May. "I already have several jobs, the one job that really helps is taking photos."

"You mean taking photos of Spider-Man?" Harry looked at his friend as if he grew a third head. "He'll be old news in about month or so, the real celebrity in Vale is Pyrrha Nikos."

"Who?" Jaune asked him like he should care.

"The invincible girl from Mistral, she's attending-" Harry paused for a moment then shook his head. "Never mind. I think it's better if you don't know who she is and focus on how to actually get a well-paid job."

"I don't know." Jaune looked around the hallway they're in and saw many people either looking at newspapers or on their scroll, all showing the wall crawler doing something amazing.

"I've been getting a good supply of cash because of taking photos, why should I stop?" Jaune had many side jobs from helping Mr. Macarren's shop, being a waiter at the local diner, he even tried being a bouncer to make use of his super strength.

 _'Kind of glad I didn't take that last job. Heard it got trashed by some crazy chick that couldn't wait in line like everyone else.'_

"I'm just saying that you need to get a good job that really benefits from your abilities."

Jaune knew what job Harry was hinting at, but he couldn't go back to that place that made him into what he is now.

"I already tried getting a job there." Jaune said while finally reaching the classroom.

"Yeah, as a janitor for my dad's company!" Harry was baffled when Jaune told him what job he was trying to get when he got to Vale. Jaune was even more surprised when Harry told him that was one of the many places his Father owned in this Kingdom.

"I'm not even sure I could get an internship there, Harry." Jaune told him taking out his notebook in front of him and getting ready for class to begin.

"You and I both know you can totally get it. You're the smartest guy I know!"

"I need to be if I wanted to get in a good college." He never really thought he would ever go to college since he always had poor grade back at his previous school. Aunt May and Uncle Ben was the reason why he wanted to get a higher learning.

Jaune never stopped learning new things, in or out of school and soon his bad grades became straight A's with many of his teachers giving positive remarks, some thinking he could easily receive a scholarship this year.

"It's just an internship, it's not going to tamper your studying. I'm sure if I call my dad right now he would no doubt refuse everyone else and pick you." Harry's father, Norman Osborn, was one of the richest people in all four kingdoms even rivaling other big-name businesses from technology development, medical research, science, even dust. It was as if his family name was everywhere making Jaune wonder how he became friends with the heir to the corporation.

Harry was about to speak more about the job but was stopped when a paper airplane dive-bombed on to his head with several students laughing.

Jaune picked up the paper plane, opened it, and saw the word 'LOSERS' written on before he balled it up and tossed it in a nearby trashcan.

 _'Oh yeah, now I remember how we became fast friends. We're both targets for bullies.'_

Jaune turned his head to see that the one who threw the plane was the school's star football player and local bully, Flash Thompson, who high fived one of his friends, not even acting like he didn't do it.

"I'm so glad that we don't get to see him when we become seniors." Jaune only gave his friend a nod of agreement when their teacher entered the class room causing all of the student's quiet down.

"Ok class, it's time to pass out last week's pop quiz. Don't complain once you see your score and if those who have a bad grade can take a retake after school." The teacher said while giving each student their paper. Some were verbally praising their hard work while others were cursing themselves for not studying hard enough.

"Alright! Flash passes another day!" Flash congratulated himself for getting a C- on his quiz.

"You know Flash, you should know that life doesn't revolve around football." The teacher said while passing Harry's sheet showing an A at the corner of his quiz. "You should realize that soon since this is your last year."

Looking back at his student's pop quizzes he took one off the stack and smiled at who's paper he was giving. "Mr. Arc, I expect no less of what you have in my class." He told him while giving his student his pop quiz showing an A+. "Maybe you should give others help picking up their grade, especially some who are in the football team." That last remark caused the class to laugh at who that was meant for causing Jaune to wince at the implication.

 _'Thanks for adding more wood to the fire teach-Uh oh!'_

"Whoops!" Jaune immediately ducked to avoid a football aimed at his head, causing the fast object to hit the teacher and scatter the remaining paperwork.

"Mr. Thompson," The teacher moved his head to see Flash still in his throwing position frozen in horror at who he threw the ball at. "I'd like to have a word with you. After class."

Flash slumped back to his seat with more students laughing at him for digging his own grave. Harry was one of the most vocal about mistake and patted Jaune's shoulder. "You know, I never believed in karma until now."

"Yeah, karma." Jaune turned around just in time to see Flash give him a short glare before looking down at his pop quiz. "Hopefully karma doesn't decide to do the same to me."

The rest of the day soon became a blur to Jaune with his classes starting and ending when the last bell telling everyone that school's over. The students ran out the front doors of the school either walked back home, waited for their parents to pick them up, or hitched a ride with their friends who owned a car. Harry was in the first category until a long black limo stopped in front of the school. The back window rolls down to reveal a man who looked like an older version of Harry.

"Dad? Why are you here?" Harry asked surprised that his dad would show up out of the blue.

"Come now son. Can't a parent pick up their child after schools over?" Harry's father, Norman Osborn, shifts his gaze to Jaune. "Mr. Arc, I'm glad that your still friends with my son. He tends to lose them after a few days."

"Dad!" Harry shouted from embarrassment.

"Joking, just joking." Norman lifted his hand and snapped his fingers as the driver got out of the car and open the passenger seat. "Come along son, you too Mr. Arc. It'd be rude of me not to drop you off at your home."

Not passing up on the offer Jaune entered the limo and seated himself on the car's comfy seat. Looking around he notices the inside of the fancy limo holds a bar with expensive looking wine and fancy glasses.

"So, how was your day, son?" Mr. Osborn said while reaching for the bar, but chose to pull out a can of soda instead of wine.

"Well, I got an A on my pop quiz today." Harry said to his father proudly making the man smile.

"Good job, Harry." Mr. Osborn looked at Jaune squirm under his stare. "No doubt with your help, isn't that right Mr. Arc."

"I just helped him understand the basics, Mr. Osborn." Jaune tried to give the credit to Harry.

"If he can't understand the basics then he's doomed to repeat them. I'm thankful that he has a friend with a good head on their shoulders, much better than the last group of friends he had last year." Harry looked away from his father and set his attention on the carpet.

"I thank you, Arc, for being my son's only friend. Most of his 'friends' use him for personal gain, but not you, and for that you have my thanks." Mr. Osborn nodded his head in approval, making Jaune embarrassed for the complement. Jaune was going to say something when the limo stopped causing him to stumble from surprise.

"Looks like we made it to your home." Mr. Osborn opened the car door showing Aunt May's house. "Have a nice day, Arc."

"Thank you, sir." Jaune got out of the car and turned around. "See at school Harry." Ha waved giving his friend a friendly smile.

"See ya, Jaune." Harry said still looking at the limo's carpet making his friend frown. He was about to open the front door but was stopped when he heard Mr. Osborn's voice speak to him again.

"Do be careful, Mr. Arc." Mr. Osborn voice became stern and cautious. "Even if the news says this masked hero is taking crime off the streets, that doesn't mean you should feel safe and let your guard down." After he said that Mr. Osborn's limo drove off making Jaune wonder about what he was implying.

* * *

The night life in Vale always seemed like it was a completely different kingdom compared to when every street, every corner, and every building was covered in sunlight. When the sun had set, and people go home it soon became a playground for many shady people trying to find their big score.

Unfortunately for them what they always find was a spider.

"Hey! Let me down!" The purse snatcher cried out, the webbing attached to his back dangling under a tall light post.

"I like to remind you that I saw you snatch a purse from some lady a block away." Spider-Man said standing under the struggling thug with a pen and paper in his hands. "There! That should tell the police why you're strung up in the first place."

Using his ability to stick to any surface the web-head climbed on the light post and came face to face with the purse snatcher. When the crook tried to take a swing at his captor Spider-Man bounded his arms to his chest with a note saying, 'Purse snatcher' at the center.

Jumping back down on the ground the wall-crawler admired his work for a few moments before he saw a young woman running towards him. As soon as she reached him she placed her hands on her legs to try and get her breathing in check. "Here you go ma'am, it's dangerous to walk alone at night. Try and invest in a car or a public bus if you're really desperate." Spider-Man handed the purse over giving her a two-finger salute. The woman looked up to show her bright emerald eyes to his white compound ones and gave him a nod as a thank you for helping her.

"Also, if you have a scroll do you mind if you call the police? These things aren't really used for pockets." Spider-Man showed her that his pants don't have sewn in pockets.

The girl with black twin tails pulled out her scroll and showed it to him. "Great, thank you and stay safe!" Spider-Man shot out a web string to a nearby building and pulled, causing him to rocket towards the building leaving the silent girl on her own.

Seeing that the coast is clear she dropped her smile to a sneer and changed back to her original look. With her disguise gone she sends a text to her partner in crime.

'He took the bait.' With the message sent she looked up to see Roman's lackey still hung up. She shrugged her shoulders and walked to Roman's location. She already finished her part of the job, now it's up to Roman's and his part of the plan to finish this guy off.

Web swinging from building to building he patrolled the streets at night while trying to find bigger crime for him to stop and take photos of. Tonight, was by far the quietest night he ever patrolled. Not a lot of crimes have popped up in a while, which is a good thing, but left Spider-Man clueless on who oversaw so many criminals stealing large amounts of dust.

While he landed on top of a high story building he walked to the edge of the roof gazing upon the kingdom's streets hoping to catch a crime that can lead him in the right direction. His silent watching was interrupted when his stomach growled, reminding him that he forgot to eat.

 _'Curse my super metabolism! It's like I'm just breathing in food rather than eating it. Hopefully when I get back there'll be leftovers in the fridge.'_

Showing no signs of life on the streets Spider-Man decided to jump of the roof and web swing again to try and forget his hunger.

"Come out come out wherever you, Mr. Criminals! I literarily get up at night just to do this!" He taunted.

Just when he was about to call it quits for the night he felt his mind give him a warning, signaling danger's nearby. He stopped swinging and land on the side of a random building to spot where the danger is.

"And here I thought tonight I would only be stopping purse snatchers." He said to himself when he saw a group wearing red sunglasses and bowler hats break into a closed dust shop. "Finally, maybe I can get some useful information tonight."

Jumping down to street level Spider-Man unclipped the camera that was attached to his waist and webbed it on a nearby corner store facing the crime. He walked through the front door to see them packing all the dust inside briefcases.

Seeing that they haven't notice his arrival he leaned on a wall for a couple of seconds before deciding to just stand on his legs and cross his arms.

"Hey guys! How's it going?" Spider-Man said making the crooks stop what they were doing and face him.

"WHOA! I knew you guys looked familiar!" Spider-Man said in surprise with most of their crooks pulling out their weapons. "The guy on the right was the dead giveaway." A second later Spider-Man shot a web at the man on his right holding a shotgun. He pulled the gun out of his hands and used it to hit several crooks with the butt end of the shotgun, knocking them out cold.

One of the thieves holding an axe tried to side swipe the spider, but only cut the air when Jaune jumped on to the ceiling. "Hey, I think I saw you a few nights ago." The same man tried to attack him again, but Spider-Man kept dodging each strike. "Didn't I put you behind bars already?"

Spider-Man caught the man's arm and with enough force pushed him away knocking two other thugs behind him. As they tried to get back up Spider-Man quickly shot out a large web that expanded into a net making them struggle in vain to break free.

With all the crooks either knocked out cold, or trapped in a web, Spider-Man landed on his feet and walked over to the one that was still conscious to ask him questions.

"So, I've been dealing with guys dressed like you for a while now. I'm guessing you all have a boss, right?"

"Y-yeah." He said nervously.

"Great! If you just tell me where his evil lair is that would be-" Spider-Man automatically got down on his stomach when a hail of bullets shot at the shop's window, littering the entire floor with broken glass.

After the firing stopped Spider-Man looked back at the guy he was talking to now shaking like a leaf. "I'm guessing this was a trap?" He asked him.

"Y-yes." The crook said still shaking.

"But you didn't know that this would happen, right?"

"No."

"Awesome." He looked around the shop to find an exit. When he finally found the back door, he started to formulate a plan. "Welp, love to talk more but I'll let the police handle the rest. Later!" Spider-Man used his web to open the back door and quickly crawled on the floor, leaving the scared criminal stuck to the floor.

"Bye." With the hero gone the crook finally succumbed to fatigue and quickly fainted.

* * *

"Well! I'm not paying you all to stand here! Go get him!" Roman yelled at his crew while sitting on the hood of his getaway car.

"But what if he's still alive, boss?" One of his henchmen said making the rest nod at the thought that he might still be kicking.

"I don't pay you to think! Go and check or else I'll make sure you'll being joining the same grave he's in!" Roman threatened making them shut up and follow their orders. One of them ran inside the now busted shop and within 5 minutes he went back outside shaking his head.

"He's gone bo-AAHH" Before he could tell Roman what he saw the thug was encased in webbing making him unable to move.

 **Twip! Twip! Twip!**

One by one more of his goons were trapped in webbing, unable to get out leaving on his own. Roman, seeing that he's alone, decided to leave the scene before more trouble arrives. Reaching for the car handle he was about to open the door when his hand was covered in webs. He tried to pull his hand out only for it to stay in place.

Roman was about to reach for his scroll to call Neo when he felt a sudden extra weight on the car. Looking up he sees Spider-Man in a crouching position staring at Roman with his wide compound eyes.

"Judging from how well dressed you are compared to the rest of them, I'm assuming you're the boss of these guys?" The web head waved his arm to show Roman's goons pinned to the ground covered in strong webbing. "I feel like I've seen you before... I know! You're that guy that sells suits and guarantees that I'll like the way I look, right?"

"Does this stuff come out of you? How the hell is this thing so strong?!" Roman was starting to get frustrated with how easily he'd been caught. It was supposed to be a simple ambush and filling this guy with dust, but instead his goons got webbed up with him being at the mercy of this animal in a costume.

 _'How the hell can't I break this thing? It's feels like I'm trying to pull flexible steel!'_

"I may be called Spider-Man, but I'm not exactly all spider." To show what he meant he waved both hands in front of Roman and shot another small web at Roman's other arm to the vehicle. "There! Now you can't escape." Doing a front flip off the car the superhero stood next to the subdued criminal trying even harder to get himself free.

"To be honest I kind of expected more out of this, but I'm just glad that it's not passed midnight yet." The web slinger yawn loudly. "And I'm not saying that this was a short fight, I just really need my sleep."

"Trust me, hero, you'll get your sleep. As soon as my friend's done with you."

"What friend? I just took down your-" Spider-Man quickly shifted his body in to a fighting position, his spider sense warning him of imminent danger.

 _'Where's it coming from? This never happened before!'_

He looked left and right with no signs of danger. Suddenly the sound of breaking glass came from behind, causing him to turn around and see a blade close to his face. Then all he saw was red.

* * *

Neo was always confident with her abilities, that's one of the reasons why Roman always had her by his side as a bodyguard. Though she usually gets her hands dirty whenever she needed to, that was why she was looking down at Roman and his lackeys gun down a dust shop with a bored expression.

She would've gone down to help, but with so much fire power it seemed mundane to even be here. When Roman told her that it was some guy wearing a skin-tight suit stopping his crime spree it she'd thought he'd gone crazy. But when she disguised herself as some helpless woman and saw what he could do she could only think of one word. Ridiculous.

How some guy pretending to be a hero could stop so much of their progress baffled her. And with how brightly colored he dresses up she wondered how he didn't die from getting shot.

Once the gunfire was over and all was silent, the tri-colored woman was about to leave early when she heard several of Roman's men scream in surprise when they were caught in webs. She saw Roman was about to escape but he too was caught in the Spider-Man's web, leaving her no choice but to do her job and get Roman out of danger.

Her semblance was a useful ability, allowing her to trick her enemies before she swooped in for the kill, or as an escape route whenever she and Roman needed to leave. She was an ambush oriented fighter, so when she was right behind the confused crime fighter she believed this fight was as good as hers.

A simple stab from behind and that should've been the end for the so-called hero.

"Woah that's sharp!" He shouted in surprise before leaping several feet away. His forehead bleeding and covering his right lens. This caused Neo to look surprised at how quick his reaction was. No one notices her ambush until it was too late, and yet as soon as her blade was just a few centimeters close to his head he quickly evaded, only receiving a superficial wound.

"Neo! What took you so long? Get me out of this thing!" Her partner screamed in frustration.

Neo was about to use her blade to cut Roman free, but was stopped when Spider-Man shot out a long strand of webbing on her weapon causing her to shift her focus.

"Sorry, but I'm going to have to ask if you have a license for that weapon. A minor like yourself shouldn't have such dangerous objects."

Seeing that this hero needed to be taken down first, Neo closed the distance between them and used a flurry of thrust to weaken him before going in for the kill.

"Ok! I see you really know how to use that thing! Sorry for assuming you didn't!" He apologized while dodging every attack she was giving him.

Neo fought many enemies, from professional Huntsmen to deadly Grimm, and yet she can't seem to land a signal hit on the guy! She thought that he was just some push over, but now the Huntress is wondering who she's up against.

The young teen evaded a horizontal slash, giving his assailant a good opportunity to land a kick to his stomach. Her foot was already in midair and, yet she still hit nothing, causing her to be even more surprised at how fast this guy's reaction was.

"You know, I never really encountered someone so quiet. They usually curse at me or tell me to shut up. It's really nice to finally fight someone that's ok with me talking." He said while dodging more kicks from his opponent.

She was about make another attempt to attack him but soon stopped. Spider-Man looked surprised when she smiled at him and waved her finger at him as a sign for him to attack her instead.

"Oh! Is it my turn now? Well, if you insist." Spider-Man ran straight towards her and attempted to tackle her. As soon as he wrapped his arms around her she immediately shattered into little pieces, causing the hero to land flat on the ground.

 _'Ok, I'm pretty sure she wasn't that fragile. So, what the heck just happened?'_

Spider-Man was already back on his feet when he felt his spider sense warn him that danger was nearby making his body automatically dodge a surprise attack from the side.

"Ok, you're gonna be a real handful if your gonna keep doing that." Neo only stuck her tongue out and waved a hand as if saying that this was good bye.

"Um, hello?" Spider-Man waved back at her in confusion. "Nice meeting you and all but why are waving at me? You didn't even hurt me."

 _'And why does my spider sense keep telling me I'm still in danger!?'_

"It's because she was distracting you, bug!" Turning around the web slinger spotted Roman free from his bonds and pointing his cane at his car with some of the stolen dust poured over it.

"Oh boy." Spider-man said before Roman fired his weapon.

Roman's cane launched a red flare at the car, igniting the dust and causing the car to explode with Spider-Man getting caught in the flames and shrapnel. After the smoke settled the two criminals saw no sight of the hero, causing them to assume he got incinerated from the blast. Roman let out a laugh in victory.

"Ha! Wished I saw the face he was making behind that mask." Roman said while looking at the damage caused by the explosion leave many stores ruined. "Then again, we've already taken care of our little bug problem. It's back to business as usual."

Neo nodded in agreement and pointed her finger at their henchmen.

"Of course, we'll need to set them free! Who else is going to carry all of the dust?" Roman was going to say more when they heard police sirens closing in on their location. "Let's get grab as much as we can and leave, we'll get more next time."

 _'Hopefully there'll be no more surprises from here on out.'_

Roman pulled out a bent cigar from his pocket and used his cane to light it. He took a slow drag before exhaling a large puff of smoke. With Neo freeing his goons and stealing the remainder of the dust before the cops arrived Roman can only sigh in relief knowing that all is right in the world.

 _'Goodbye, hero.'_

* * *

Pain. That was what Spider-man was feeling when he woke up to see he was inside a destroyed building. He never felt this much pain before in his life and, yet he had no choice but to get up once he heard the approaching sirens.

He could take punches no problem, even when they used blunt objects like plywood or steel pipes. But this was the first time he'd gotten caught in an explosion. He was thankful that he was durable enough to survive it.

 _'I need to get up before they get away!'_

Getting back on his feet the injured hero fought his fatigue and ran outside to see that the criminals he caught were free, the dust shop completely empty, and their boss long gone with no trace what so ever.

 _'I need to get back home before the police catch me.'_

Lifting his hand up to web swing out of the crime scene, he stopped once he remembered he left a camera attached to a corner store. He made a quick stop to retrieve the pictures.

"Oh, come on." Jaune said while picking up his broken camera from the debris.

 _'The explosion must have been bigger than I thought. Hopefully I can still salvage the film.'_

With his camera retrieved he web swinged back home, making sure to not to disturb Aunt May from his painful moaning, and silently walked to his bathroom mirror to see how much damage he took.

'Holy crap I'm a mess.'

The reflection showed his face mask completely ruined with only half of it still on his head. The remainder of his costume showing huge rips and tears with his wounds dyeing his costume with his blood.

 _'Need to get this thing fixed, but I'm too tired to take it off.'_

Dragging his feet to his bed Jaune used the rest of his energy to remove his torn mask and lifted his bed sheets to cover his battered body before sleep finally took hold of him. He'd never dealt with a situation as grave as this, but he knew that if they were willing to face him head on shows that there's more to it than just simple dust thefts.

It also means if their boss had to come out of his hide out to stop him that someone even more powerful is pulling the strings in the shadows, and they wanted to eliminate him before he gets to close.

 _'I'll look in to it... after... a goodnight... rest.'_

* * *

 **Wow, looks like Jaune is getting closer and closer to the truth, but I wonder how long it will take for other people to seek him out too.**

 **It took me a couple of tries to figure out how to compare Spider-Man to most of the characters to the show RWBY with me realizing that Spider-Man could defiantly beat most of them thanks to his many abilities compared to Huntsmen and their semblance only having one ability.**

 **Neo was able beat Yang easily due to her speed and reflexes, but compared to Spider-Man and his super reaction speed and flexibility with the added bonus of his spider sense made me struggle with how I should write them fighting.**

 **Though his spider sense is defiantly a good edge against his enemies Jaune still needs to figure out which is an imminent threat to him which sometimes leaving him vulnerable to attack.**

 **The other down side was that he has no aura like everyone else, but with how durable Spider-Man could be I can assume that it really isn't a disadvantage.**

 **It would have been an easy fight for Jaune to win, but when you add the fact that Neo and Roman play dirty made me realize that they would pull a trick like that.**

 **If you guys are worried about Jaune's recovery and how he'll tell Aunt May how he became injured you don't need to worry. All he needs is a few hours of sleep and he'll be good as new next morning.**

 **More fighting is on the way with many secrets being reviled to our friendly Spider-Man with the added bonus of team RWBY coming in on a later chapters. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and please leave a comment about what you guys think.**

 **Thank you.**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Time Heals All Wounds

 **Beta- Reader: Maestro Of Madness**

* * *

"So, you're certain that he was taken care of?" The female voice said trough Roman's Scroll.

"You bet." Roman's then motioned his head to his posse moving large quantity of dust. "We sent him to the afterlife. There is no way he could survive an explosion that big."

"Then well done, Roman." Roman heard faint whispering from the other side of the Scroll. "Now that the so called 'Hero' is dead, we can go back to our original plan."

"I already have Junior getting his boys to help me with Dust, you do-"

"There will be more help to get Dust than your average thug-for-hire." She cut him off. "We'll be getting more outside help this time. Thanks to that insect delaying my plan it's time to accelerate our deadline."

"And who, may I ask, is going to help me?" Roman asked while taking a hit from his cigar.

"The White Fang." As soon as she said that he coughed mid smoke, making him pound his chest.

"Why those animals?!" Roman said while coughing.

"The White Fang gave their support in hopes to get more recruitment. They've been losing some followers thanks to the Spider-Man and his good deeds." She said as if it that last part of her sentence caused her to vomit.

"And how exactly are they going to help me when they can't even help themselves?"

"You need more assistance and they need followers for their movement. You're a smart man I'm sure you can see the benefit for both our groups." She said with a bit of amusement.

It didn't take the master thief long before he realized what she was getting at. He placed both hand on his Scroll, as if trying to choke the person on the other end of the call for coming up with such an insane plan.

"You want me to recruit more followers for them?!" He said hysterically.

"You're a very persuasive man. I'm sure you can make them join The White Fang easily."

"They'll tear me apart. After all I'm the one who killed the spider." Roman started to see the outcome of what could happen if it goes wrong. "Pretty sure they don't want me to help since I killed one of their own."

"The White Fang want blind followers that wish to take their rage on humans. If you simply don't say you killed Spider-Man, then I'm sure you can make them into faithful soldiers for the Faunus movement." Roman heard her chuckle at the thought of it happening.

"Now that Spider-Man's gone, things will start getting more and more chaotic for the kingdom of Vale with us controlling everything with no one to stop us."

"Even if I do get them to join, I'm going to need more than just extra bodies to move all this Dust." When Roman said that he heard several objects breaking. He turned his head to see broken boxes and his men shouting at each other.

"I already have several large shipments coming your way, just show them to the Faunus and they'll soon join with no hesitation. Now, if we're done talking, I must meet someone very important for my next part of the plan. Be sure not to fail me Roman. Now that this Spider-Man is gone you have no excuse for making mistakes." His Scroll showed him the caller hanged up leaving him to his thoughts on his situation.

 _One problem gone, and another shows up. Even if more animals join their cult club I still need to watch where I'm placed in her plan._

"Neo." Roman called for his assistant, the sound of glass breaking behind him revealing a smiling Huntress. "Get the boys ready. We'll be getting more helpers soon and we'll need them to be extra careful with the next few days."

Neo gave her boss a nod before she shattered to pieces. Roman was walking back to his office to get his part of the plan started but stopped when he noticed a small spider cross his path.

The sight of the spider made Roman raise his foot to squash it, but stopped just above it, allowing the spider to quickly crawl away and enter a small crack in a nearby stone column. With the spider now gone Roman started to walk to his office with a single thought repeating to him in his head.

 _Was he really dead?_

* * *

"Jaune? Jaune, are you awake?" Aunt May shouted from the kitchen. "You're going to be late for school!" The woman of the house placed her cooked eggs on the table and put her kitchen mitts away.

Walking to the bottom of the stairs Aunt May waited a couple more seconds, waiting to hear her young tenant's voice only to hear nothing from the second floor.

"Jaune, I'm coming upstairs." Aunt May walked to the top of the stairs, and yet still no noise from his room, making Aunt May anxious.

 _He always answers when I call him. I hope he didn't stay up all night studying._

"Jaune? I'm opening your door." She placed her hand on the door knob and turned it. "Please excuse the intrusion." The door was already half way open when Jaune's head popped out, causing the older woman to step back in surprise.

"Morning, Aunt May." Jaune said nonchalantly. "I was just using the bathroom. Is breakfast ready?"

The startled woman was still trying to calm her heart before she gave him a disapproving stare for surprising her, but soon let out a sigh. "Breakfast is already done. Just get dressed and hurry downstairs."

"Thank you, Aunt May." Jaune kissed her forehead and closed the door as she returned downstairs to get started on her day.

 _That boy. Always on his toes whenever I open his door. I hope whatever he's hiding doesn't give him too much trouble._

Mrs. Parker was no fool. She always catches small noises at night, especially when it comes to Jaune's room. It became even more apparent with Jaune and his many side jobs keeping him very busy next to his school work. With so much on his plate it's understandable for him to come home late if he wanted to get more lien to help her with the bills, but last night when she heard him come home it sounded like he was in pain. She was staring to get concerned with his late-night activities.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she came face to face with the family portraits. The one picture that caught her attention was the one of her husband, Ben Parker. Taking the frame with both her hands she places it on her chest and prayed that her husband's looking down on them, giving them his best wishes whenever they get in trouble. Opening her eyes, she placed it back on the shelf and looked at her husband's picture, as if he was right in front of her. She asked the picture the same question ever since his passing.

 _"What am I going to do, Ben?"_

* * *

"Man, that was close." Letting a quick sigh of relief Jaune closed the door and turned back to his ruined costume that was on his bed. "It's gonna take a while to fix this suit, but that's why I always have a spare I suppose."

Balling up the costume the teen stuffed it under his bed and fished out a long flat box with a small combination lock. Putting in the code, he unlocked the case to show his sewing kit and a freshly clean spare next to it.

 _Ok, bad news: I'm dead and the people behind it will probably go full force into whatever they're planning. The good news: They think I'm dead, so all I need to do is catch them by surprise._

"Easier said than done." That night was the first time he ever fought actual Huntsmen. He usually deals with regular muggings and robberies, but that was the first time he ever dealt with professional fighters.

 _Still, my body doesn't feel the pain from the explosion from last night. In fact, I feel better than ever!_

With every morning, Jaune checks himself in the mirror to see if he had any permanent damage from last night's fight only to see no visible scars. This wasn't a surprise to him. Like all criminals they hold more than just bats and pipes. Knives and guns are things that he's all too familiar with. Before he could understand his spider sense he'd once been stabbed by a thief that got the drop on him, and later on he got shot from a robber when he pushed a security guard out of harms way.

That was a hurdle that made him wonder if he should quit while he was still ahead of his hero career. But whenever he trudged to his bed, clutching his severe wounds that would kill any normal man, he'd go to sleep and wake the next morning, his body good as new. As if he never got injured in the first place.

 _Super healing. Comes in handy when I don't want to go to the hospital as Spider-Man, or deal with a huge medical bill. It's just seems so unreal for me to see that I'm able to heal from a wound like yesterday._

With the teen now ready for the day he made it to the kitchen and ate his meal next to his Aunt, as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

 _Last night I should've been in intensive care, or dead. But here I am, eating breakfast, getting ready for school, and my body feels a million lien!_

The moonlight superhero started to pound his chest when his breakfast started blocking his wind pipe. Aunt May stood up from her chair and looked at the choking boy in surprise.

"Jaune! Are you ok?" She walked over to him and started to pat his chest.

"I'm fine, Aunt May." The glass of water helped flush the blockage down. "Just remembered that I need to hand in my pictures soon."

"Oh, you mean the Bugle?" Seeing that he was fine now she walked back to her seat to finish her breakfast. "They must really need those photos of that spider guy. But, then again, I'm sure they're more concerned with what happened last night."

Aunt May reached for the remote at the edge of the table and turned the volume of the TV higher to listen to last night's theft. The screen showed the same woman with burned and ruined buildings behind her. The police were off to the side putting up yellow tape to secure the crime scene.

"What you see behind me is the latest, and might I add, disastrous act of crime led by the escaped crime boss, Roman Torchwick. Some people are asking, 'how much more violence will he commit just to steal dust from our community?'"

"It scares me to think how people will go to such lengths to do these things. I wonder how long it'll be before he's back behind bars." Aunt May said making Jaune sink lower in his seat.

 _I could've stopped him. I had stopped him, but then that weird silent chick came out of nowhere and helped him escape._

"With so much damage caused by the escaped convict many concerned citizens wonder where was Spider-Man to stop him. With me now is Bugle's editor-in-chief..."

 _Oh no... anyone but him._

"Mr. Jameson." Shifting the camera, a middle age man appeared wearing a mean look, as if everything around him pissed him off. With who was involved in this crime it seemed to make him all the angrier on the TV. "Mr. Jameson, what are your thoughts on why Spider-Man couldn't stop Roman's latest crime?"

Raising his fist to his face. J. Jonah Jameson cleared his throat before speaking to the mic.

"The answer is really simple, miss."

Here it comes.

"IT'S BECAUSE SPIDER-MAN IS WORKING WITH ROMAN TORCHWICK!" As soon as that sentence left his mouth, Jaune sank his head in his hands and shook it at his boss's insane theories about him. "SPIDER-MAN IS NOTHING BUT A BAD EXAMPLE FOR THE YOUNG GENERATION, AND WITN WHAT HAPPENED HERE IT'S PLAIN AS DAY THAT SPIDER-MAN LET THIS HAPPEN 'CAUSE HE'S WORKING WITH MR. TORHWICK!"

 _He almost blew me up! I'm pretty sure I deserve a bit of a break from what happened to me._

"What about the several other crime related incidents that were stopped by him, as well as all the pictures of the web slinger preforming heroic deeds on your news site?"

"It was all just an act! He was trying to let everyone trust him! Then, as soon as he had the public's trust, he showed his true colors!" J.J kept ranting while a thick vein started to show on his forehead. "Let the authorities handle the crime, and let the real heroes, the Huntsmen, put the bug in his place!" Seeing that he was going to keep spouting more nonsense, Jaune took the remote and turned it off.

"Thanks for the breakfast, Aunt May. I'm gonna go wait for the bus now." Grumbling incoherent words about the news Jaune placed his plate in the sink. He was ready to walk out the door when his Aunt stopped him.

"Remember that you're working at the diner today. My friend who's the manager needs an extra set of hands." Aunt May then gave him a kiss on the cheek and saw him off to the bus stop.

"Thanks, Aunt May." Jaune said waving at her as he turned a corner, cutting off his view of her.

With the sight of her gone Jaune dropped his arm to his side and looked down at his feet until he reached his bus stop. His thoughts now occupied with working at Aunt May's local diner. Her friend was the manager of the restaurant, so with some help she landed him a part time job as a waiter whenever her friend needed extra help and if Jaune needed more work.

 _Hopefully I can get some good tips, so I could save up for a new camera. I already know it's gonna make a huge dent in my wallet, but it'll be worth it._

"Now I need to find out Roman's location." The school bus stopped in front of him and opened its doors. He entered and placed himself in the middle section of the bus with most of the louder students behind him. "Fat chance any of that's gonna happen. It's not like a lead's gonna land in my lap any time soon."

* * *

"Here you go, Mrs. Jordon. Hope you enjoy yourself." Jaune told the elderly woman while giving her order with a friendly smile.

"Thank you, Jaune." Mrs. Jordan, a bunny faunus, said as she looked at her husband who was reading the newspaper. "Can you just put the paper down for just five seconds and eat your food before its gets cold?"

"Humph." Mr. Jordon, her human husband, hummed as he flipped another page.

The Jordon's were one of the many regulars who visit this establishment often. This place held many people throughout the years, making it very popular and well known in the kingdom. People who just got out of school tend to go here to hang out or study. While adults who just got off work, or on their lunch break, come here to enjoy themselves. And if by some rare chance a Huntsman also comes around out of curiosity.

With so many people eating here, and with the good reviews they give, it was a great place to work and get a steady number of tips. And for the young hero, he thrived on tips whenever he needed the lien, and with what happened last night he need to make a good amount to cover for his losses.

"Must be something really important Mr. Jordan's reading." The part timer looked over his shoulder to see if any other costumer needed him. "Does it involve what happened with that big explosion?"

With what went down last night with the criminals stealing more dust and Spider-Man not able to stop them, news traveled like wild fire, making people speculate what happened. Already Jaune heard small rumors between tables about how he was actually working for Roman, or he was the leader the entire time. But, like all things involving his hero alter-ego, they wonder who Spider-Man was under that mask.

"You know how the news is, especially if it involves that Spider fellow." Mrs. Jordon took a sip from her cup to clear her throat. She was going to talk again when her husband finally set his newspaper down.

"Can't believe most people even believe in this man's dribble."

"What do you mean, Mr. Jordon?"

"All these people buying in to this," Mr. Jordon placed his wrinkled calloused hand on the paper and pointed at a picture of Spider-Man mid web swing and saving someone falling off a building. "The man does good every day, and the one time a crime happens without him doing anything, the people start to question him." The old man shook his head and spoke again. "I've met him before, he's alright in my book."

"Oh dear, not that again." Mrs. Jordon shook her head. She's heard the same thing every time it involved the masked hero. "You keep telling that same story every time."

"Because he's the real hero in this damn kingdom! The guy's doing something to clean these streets and what do the rest of the kingdom do? Just sit on their hands, waiting until the problem comes to them rather than the other way around."

"I know he saved you when you almost got run over by a car. You even invited him for dinner, which I make a fantastic baked carrot cake by the way." Mrs. Jordon told their waiter making the boy chuckle.

Jaune knows she makes the best dessert. After he saved her husband the elderly man insisted on inviting him to dinner as a sign of thanks. Most of the people Jaune saved as Spider-Man always thanked him, making it kind of nice to hear praise from them, even if it wasn't directly to him.

"He deserves the damn key to the kingdom! Going out day in and day out, risking his life to protect the people of this kingdom." Soon, more and more people started to glance at the table, making Jaune nervous with the growing attention.

 _OK, Spider-Man can deal with the attention, but not Jaune Arc. Time to switch the subject._

"I don't know. Pretty sure Huntsmen can do the same thing he does. The only reason not many show up is because they have to go beyond the kingdom to protect villages from Grimm." Most of the ease droppers agreed and went back to their food. With the attention diverted, the young teen to breathe a sigh of relief.

"They can't hold a candle compared to what he does. In fact, when he stopped that car from hitting me I noticed something that can prove he's not a huntsman." The attention was back on the small table. Several of the ease droppers gave up on trying to be subtle and focused in on the story.

"I don't understand." Jaune said, his anxiety growing. "He must be a Huntsman if he's able to do the amazing things he does."

"True, but he has one thing that makes him special above all Huntsmen." The waiter was curious by what the man meant, forgetting the customers trying to ease drop.

"Dear, you're making a scene. I told you before, it was a trick of the light. You were delusional." His wife tried to reason with him.

"Don't try and make me sound insane, Maria! I know what I saw and what I saw proves that he ain't no ordinary person." Taking a drink to calm his nerves, Mr. Jordon continued his story. "He saved my life. I'll always thank him for that, but when he turned his back on me to check the driver I noticed something wrong with his costume. It had a tear showing a fresh wound from when the car hit him."

Jaune held his breath as the story took a turn. Cuts that were inflicted on him did leave a sting, though it never really stopped him. He assumed that must be a huge difference when compared to trained Huntsmen, making him even more interested in the story.

"Now the wound wasn't that deep, so it should've closed up. But it didn't, which means all this time Spider-Man has been doing such amazing feats throughout the kingdom with no aura protecting him." Many people start to discuss amongst each other over the credibility of the news. The one that was most curious was the Superhero himself.

"What's aura?"

Mrs. Jordon answered him in a quieter tone, so no one would hear them.

"Aura's what all Huntsmen use against the Grimm. It shields them from harm and even heals small wounds. It also enables them to use their Semblance, an ability specifically used by them."

"Sounds really useful." Jaune looked to her now empty plate and picked it up.

"It is, but it isn't all powerful. In time aura can be depleted from either constant use or heavy damage. They can't heal major injuries like gunshot wounds or attacks from a large Grimm-"

"Or a large explosion." Jaune said automatically.

"Yes! Though even if aura takes most of the damage, it can still leave Huntsmen very weak, and if they run out of aura then they fall unconscious, leaving them entirely vulnerable. That's why many people wonder if he was a Huntsman under his costume, but to say that someone can do the same things Huntsman do without aura is something most people never thought would be possible."

"That's why Spider-Man's a cut above the rest! He doesn't need aura to do any of that." Her husband added.

"If he's not a Huntsman, then what is he?" A random customer's question soon begins another.

"He's probably some kinda monster?"

"Is he part Grimm?"

"What if he's not from this world?

 _Man, these people really have an overactive imagination about me._

Just when the diner started to get rowdy the manager came out of her office. Her face was red with tick marks on her forehead, shouting loud enough for everyone to hear.

"He's none of our business, so all of you shut it!" The manager's outburst caused everyone to return to their food. The diner quickly went back to normal leaving Jaune stunned with how fast it ended.

 _Wow, I didn't know the difference between me and Huntsman was that serious. Kind of makes me wonder what it'd be like if I had aura instead of my spider-powers._

Jaune's thoughts were immediately cut off when his boss called his name. He got back to high gear and returned to work.

"Hope you guys have a nice day." Saying his good bye Jaune rushed to his boss. Her scowl still on her face made Jaune nervous about what she was mad about.

"Yes, Ms. Charles?" Jaune asked placing the used dishes in the diner sink and washing his hands clean.

Ms. Charles was never a happy person whenever she was at work. She's usually a very sweet and friendly woman when she hangs around Aunt May at home, so it was always weird seeing the change in personality between home and work.

"I need you to be a waiter for four customers. They're at the front, so get to it."

"Yes, ma'am." Jaune nodded to Ms. Charles and walked to the front to guide the small group to their table. As soon as he reached the front Jaune grabbed four menus next to the cashier and was about to greet them when he heard a familiar voice call out his name.

"Jaune?" Ruby's voice caused the waiter to turn his head to see she was right behind him. Standing with her were three other girls looking at the young girl curiously for addressing the boy so easily. Especially when it was someone of the opposite sex.

"Ruby? Fancy seeing you here." He said chuckling with the surprise visit.

"I thought you worked at that Dust shop?"

"No, no, I also work here whenever they need extra help." He explained.

"Wow, must be really exhausting to have two jobs."

"I make sure I balance the two while going to school."

"You do two jobs AND go to school!?" She said in shock.

"Yeah. Hold on for a moment." Jaune spotted a vacant table and returned to the group of four. "Let me get you a table so you don't have to stand around." Jaune motioned her to follow him.

"Thank you." Ruby nodded in gratitude. She followed behind him, leaving her team in a stupor over what was going on. Ruby's older sister finally snapped out of it and spoke what the rest of her friends were thinking.

"What just happened?"

* * *

 **I know that you all wanted to see another fight regarding Spider-Man and Roman, but Jaune has a life to live and that life just became more interesting now that team RWBY appeared. I also needed to explain why Jaune was so special compared to huntsmen and their abilities.**

 **Aura is defense and offence if properly trained. It does give them strentgh but only a few show that they are stronger then the rest of the characters on the show. They also have a semblance that give them a special power. It can heal wounds, but only small injuries and if prolonged it will soon fade. They still have weapons that help them fight, but I'm mostly doing the basics of what aura does.**

 **Jaune A.K.A Spider-Man does not have aura yet he can still do almost all the things people with aura do, maybe even better. He also has multiple abilities while only a semblance has one. He has organic webs, stick to walls, night vision, spider sense, super strength, reflexes, there is more but Juane will get them when he is older. The major benefit for Jaune is his healing factor that can heal serious wounds much faster then aura.**

 **I know I sound like I am siding with Spider powers, but both have ups and downs I made this chapter just to see how Jaune not having aura and still doing Amazing things makes him even more of a wild card to the world of Remnant with how they are so used to aura.**

 **If I did not answer most of your questions please feel free to comment so i can read your feedback. Don't forget to like and fav this story and also go to my Beta-Readers stories to check those stories too.**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: The Big Pay Back

"And then I was falling out of the sky while trying to fight a Nevermore all on my own." Ruby told her only audience, making sound effects to make it more dramatic.

"No way!" Jaune said his excitement about Ruby's story of initiation. Ruby seemed a bit happy that her story wasn't as boring as she thought.

"Then my partner, Weiss, saved me in the nick of time." Ruby moved her hand to point out the huntress-in-training dressed in all white sipping water through a straw. Her bored expression burning a hole in Ruby's head for telling what happened nearly 2 months ago.

"So, my partner, my older sister Yang, her partner Blake, and I, took down the Nevermore. We passed the initiation and the Headmaster announced our team with me as the leader." Ruby said to him with her chest puffed out in pride for her accomplishment.

Jaune heard stories about how Huntsmen fight Grimm. His family always told him how they fought Grimm whenever they show up close to a village. This was the first time he heard someone else tell him how they defeated a Grimm that wasn't part of his family, so when she told him her story he was on the edge of his seat with the big pay off when she told him she dealt the finishing blow, making him see her in a new light.

"Wow, Ruby. I knew you were special when we first met, but after you told me that story I can honestly say you're not special-" Ruby's eye grew wide from what he told her, showing a brief flash of hurt. "You're amazing." How he said that to her with such earnest and awe made the young girl's cheeks glow red and her body uncontrollably hot. She drank her entire glass of water to cool her off.

"I-I mean, I'm not that amazing. My teammates are pretty cool too, right girls?" She tried to direct most of his attention away from herself at to the rest of her group.

"What, we can finally talk now?" Ruby's partner finally snaps out of her boredom to join their conversation. "You two kept talking for so long he didn't ask us what we wanted to order." The girl in white's comment caused the waiter to go red from embarrassment for paying attention to Ruby instead of doing his job.

"S-sorry ma'am," Jaune quickly grabbed his pen and notepad to write down their order. "What would you like to order?"

"A chicken salad." Weiss then went back to drinking her water.

"Chicken with a side of fries." Ruby's older sister told him as she placed her menu down on the table.

"I saw baked salmon on the menu a few moments ago." Yang's partner still had her eyes on the menu, trying to find her order.

"Turkey sandwich please!" Ruby's flipped a page of her menu as she looked back at Jaune. "And I'll have a cookies and cream sundae for dessert."

"Baked salmon, please." The long black-haired girl said as she gave him her menu.

Writing down all their orders, Jaune placed their menus under his arm and nodded to them. "Thank you. I'll be sure to give this to the chef, I'll be back to get your refills."

Taking his leave from the group, the girls started to converse with each other about what was to come to Beacon. Soon, their talks shifted to their school year. But the main topic was the boy Ruby was so comfortable with.

"W-what? Since when did we start talking about Jaune?" Ruby's older sister was wearing a big grin from seeing her baby sister talk to a boy for longer than a minute.

"Come on, sis. We've been sitting here for over five minutes to give our order to the guy, and, yet, you had him all to yourself." Yang only laughed when her sister started to ramble on about her relationship between him and her sister.

"I told you guys before! He works at the Dust shop where I was checking a new weapons magazine. I haven't seen him after that, so it was a surprise when I saw him here. I just wanted him to know what happened at Beacon."

"You mean the same story about when you encountered Spider-Man?" Blake's interest soon piqued after the young teen told them her tale again. "Did you see him after they arrested the culprits?"

"No, Jaune went to the police station to get help, so I didn't get to talk to him after that." Ruby's explain made her feel a bit bad that she didn't go check up on him after that terrible ordeal with the robbery.

"Hmm." Blake stared down at the table after she heard what happened.

"Ugh! How come when we talk about anything for just a few minutes, it always goes back to that guy?" Weiss crossed her arms over her chest, now annoyed that her team started talking about that masked weirdo.

"Come on, Weiss. You gotta admit that thanks to that guy, this kingdom got even more interesting."

Weiss had to begrudgingly agree to Yang's argument about how popular this so-called hero became in Vale so quickly. It should be impossible to have someone who dresses up in a costume do what normal law enforcement and Huntsmen do for a living and not get caught was a surprise to her. They already should've put some form of warrant for his arrest, or even have the kingdom send Huntsmen to put this mystery man behind bars.

What's even more of a shock was that people started to accept that this guy is swinging around over their heads doing whatever he pleases. They should all be in an uproar that some stranger's going around, hiding behind a mask, and taking the law into his own hands. Instead they treat him like he's the only one doing anything right in this kingdom. Like Huntsman and Huntresses aren't doing their jobs.

People hate the White Fang for doing such terrible acts of terror while hiding their faces, but when this guy shows up committing his acts without proper authority and concealing his identity too then it would be plain obvious that he should be treated the same way.

 _It just doesn't make sense. We're supposed to be the ones the people should place their trust in, not Spider-Man. What makes him so different compared to the rest of us?_

The young heiress snapped out of her thoughts when she heard civilians nearby begin talking about the webbed menace.

"You think the police in Vale should help Spider-Man rather than arrest the guy."

"I actually saw him one time helping an elderly woman cross the street. You don't see that very often."

"Yeah. Some guy does good deeds throughout the kingdom, and the Council decides to not help him. What are they even thinking""

Shaking her head in annoyance, Weiss placed her focus back to her team poking fun at the still flustered leader. Ruby was still being teased by her older sister about how close she'd gotten with their waiter, Jaune. Blake was the only one not paying any attention, simply choosing to look at her scroll trying to find something interesting online.

"I keep telling you guys that he's just a friend and I'm just happy to see him here." The red-haired girl said while crossing her arms and pouting.

"Sure, sis. It's just really nice that you can talk to people for so long. Normally you're only interested in weapons, or if they were a Huntsmen." Yang stated the truth. She always worried that Ruby would be friendless with no experience with the opposite sex and when she grew older she'd live alone with her house full of weapons rather than cats.

 _Still, he's pretty plain looking. Suppose I'm just glad that she's finally coming out of her shell and gaining more friends._

"Either way, I'm proud of you, sis." Placing her sister under her arm Yang ruffled her hair as the little girl struggled under Yang's vice like grip.

Weiss could barely contain her boredom from seeing her team's conversation about boys. Add in the constant talking about Spider-Man made the young heiress grind her teeth together out of frustration.

"Can you please stop that! I can practically hear you from across the table." The quiet member of their team said.

"Sorry, it's just- how come every time we go out we always hear people keep talking about that silly superhero." The young heiress told her teammate.

Blake looked at Weiss still holding her scowl on her face making the dark-haired girl put her scroll back in her pocket and focus her attention on what the Schnee was ranting on about.

"They're just talking about something new. I'm sure it'll pass, and they will lose interest." Blake told her, but after what news she found on her Scroll, it won't be for several more months. "Apparently, people are now believing that he's working with Roman Torchwick." The quite book reader told her, causing Weiss to stare at her with surprise at the sudden news.

Placing a well-manicured hand under her chin, Weiss tried to remember if she saw this on the news this morning. "I think I remember that, but I really couldn't believe that since that blow hart of a man kept screaming on the television. Even If I know that Spider-Man is setting a bad example wearing a mask, I do believe he has some morals to him."

Blake would have commented on that last remark, only nodded in agreement on who Mr. Jameson was.

 _I doubt a Faunus would stoop so low to work with a man like Torchwick, especially a man such as Spider-Man. He seems too nice to ever think about doing any crimes._

Just like Weiss, Blake was also wondering how this kingdom became so interested about the wall crawler. The White Fang, before it became under Adam's control, was a peaceful, nonviolent, organization that tried to give the Faunus equality throughout all of Remnant, but it all fell on deaf ears.

Then along came this masked stranger staying in Vale, web swinging over people's heads, stopping accidents, petty crimes, and being friendly to strangers. It made him an instant favorite to the people. Because of his good acts and positive attitude, people in Vale seemed more upbeat, even showing some semblance of peace between the Humans and Faunus.

It became even more apparent to her when she started to hear rumors that more and more of the Faunus community are being treated fairly, even going to the extent that some are going against the current White Fang with many of its members leaving.

It made Blake feel a sense of warmth to see that the Faunus are finally getting heard and being treated better in Vale. But, at the same time, worried that the White Fang are losing members because of Spider-Man and his selfless acts.

 _Did I make the wrong choice again? Should I have followed Spider-Man's example and do what he does, wear another mask and fight against crime?_

Soon Blake had an image of her wearing a skin tight black costume posing on top of a tall structure under the broken moon light with Spider-Man crouching next to her, scanning the streets for crime.

The image was soon beaten, battered, and shoved in a corner of her mind. Blake instantly grabbed her glass of water to cool herself down then slammed her cup, causing the rest of her teams to jump in surprise.

"Dang, partner. I was just teasing her about Jaune." Yang's eyebrow shot up at her partner's abrupt movement. "What, you also want a piece of tall, blond, and normal?"

"No." She abruptly said. "I was just wondering when he'll be back with our food."

"Well wait no longer!" Their waiter finally arrived holding a pitcher of water in one hand and a large platter in his other. Pouring each glass on the table, Jaune placed the pitcher on an empty table and passed each plate of food on the table and received multiple expressions of gratitude in return.

"Please tell me if you need anything else, guys. I need to help a family get a booth. Enjoy your food." Waving good bye, the boy walked away as Ruby bid him good bye. In turn, Yang gave the young girl a exaggerated kissy face.

"Not funny, Yang." Balling up her straw wrapper she threw it at the mocking girl and laughed when it ended caught in her hair, leaving the blonde Huntress to fish it out of her golden lockers.

"Darn It! That's the fifth thing stuck in my hair today." She said while shoving her entire hand in her blond mane to get the piece of trash out of her hair.

As the team enjoyed their meal the group soon started to stack their empty plates at the center, now waiting for Jaune to come back when he was done helping someone else get their order.

"With some food now in our stomachs, I think it's about time we discuss the upcoming event." Weiss told the rest of her team.

"What event?" Ruby asked her.

"She's talking about the Vytal Festival. The tournament between the different Huntsman schools of the kingdoms." Yang said to her sister while using a toothpick to remove some food from her teeth.

"That's correct." Weiss voiced shrieked. "Soon we'll be able to observe how the other kingdoms teach their students to be professional Huntsmen."

"You mean spy on them and learn how they fight. Pretty sure that would be cheating." The white themed huntress-in-training sputtered at Blake's bluntness.

"It is not spying or cheating!" Weiss shouted to her team.

"Who's cheating?"

The four girls froze when their waiter walked in on their discussion, a look of curiosity evident on his face.

"I just finished giving orders to the chef, so I came back to take you plates." Taking the dishes away from the girls, Jaune pulled out their receipts gave it to them. "You can pay at the front when you're ready. Now, what did I hear about cheating?"

"Weiss was planning to spy on other students for the Vytal Festival when they get here." Ruby told him.

"Observing! Not Spying!" Weiss said to them as if they don't have the same meaning.

"What's the Vytal festival?" Asked the blonde boy.

"It's when all the four kingdoms show that the next generation of Huntsmen will be their new defenders and repel threats such as the Grimm back to where they came from." Weiss told him in a way that sounded more like a commercial add then actually speaking to him normally.

"I never heard about it actually. I'm too busy with work and school." He said as he scratched his head in embarrassment.

 _Plus being a part time crime fighter and trying to stay alive on top of that._

"That must take a lot out of you." Yang told him with the nodded to him as a sign of respect. She knows how hard it is to take so much work, especially when you have to take care of younger siblings. Her situation may not be the same to his, but she can respect how he takes his responsibilities more serious than most boys do who care about their masculinity and trying to get her attention.

"It does, but I'm just glad to help my Aunt." Another voice called out his name from nearby. "Well girls, I hope you'll visit again. I'll be back here tomorrow after school, so I hope to see again."

"Thank you, Jaune. See ya later." Ruby told him as she left her seat to pay for her food.

"Yeah, Ladies man, we'll see you later~" Yang winked at him, causing the tall blond to blush and Ruby to pout at her older sister.

With the four gone Jaune went back to work and started to wipe any food that was left on the table and take the dishes back to the kitchen for cleaning. Lugging the plates near the sink Jaune started to scrub them clean.

"I see you were done talking to your girlfriends, Jaune." An old man with bull horns said while chopping carrots for a stew he was making.

"They aren't my girlfriends, Mr. Pesto." Jaune told him while drying one plate and placing it on the drying rack.

 _I'm not even sure that could be possible. They're all Huntresses-in-training. They're all out of my league, especially the one with the pony tail._

Jaune let out a sigh of defeat knowing that even normal girls at school never give him the time of day, so he highly doubts that Ruby and her friends would do the same.

"You're doing that thing again where you feel sorry for yourself." The young boy shakes his head, so he can focus on cleaning dishes. "And you're wrong too. That girl with the red hair seemed nice. I'm sure if you could ask her on a date she'd say yes. All you need is confidence, Jaune."

"Yeah. Confidence. Now you sound like my father." Jaune wiped his hands clean as he finished the dishes. "Ruby's just a friend, all of them are actually. And if they do decide to get a boyfriend I'm sure they'll date a Huntsman who can do things they do.

"I don't think that works, Jaune." Mr. Pesto placed chopped carrots into a steaming pot and looked back at the disheartened boy. "The heart wants what the heart wants. Just because they're Huntresses doesn't mean they want a boyfriend who's the same."

 _Yeah, I can understand that. Then again, I'm a hero with spider powers, so I'm pretty sure finding a girl with the same dilemma is as slim as me winning the lottery._

"All I'm saying is that you should ask before it's too late." giving his last piece of advice, Mr. Pesto grabbed more vegetables and started chopping again, leaving Jaune to his thoughts.

Looking to the kitchen clock, he saw that he only had a few more hours before his shift ends, reminding him that after work was done he'd have to make sure to get some rest before patrolling the Kingdom to see if his hunch was right.

With his supposed 'death' now known, the criminal underworld will probably try and be more courageous or stupid. Which is a good chance for him to get a little pay back for what happened yesterday.

Out of nowhere, he heard a loud crash from behind him, followed by Mr. Pesto cursing up a storm.

"Jaune! Clean up!" The bull Faunus screamed as he stormed out of the kitchen to change his apron.

"Right away, sir." Jaune grabbed a mop and bucket from the supply closet. While filling the bucket he wondered if he should try and get a girlfriend. His thoughts go back to Ruby and her friends. His thoughts were cut short when the realization of what they did before they left caused him to bang his head on the broom handle.

 _I can't believe they didn't leave a tip._

* * *

Hours pass by while Jaune was waiting tables. As the sun was setting for the day the young hero said his good byes to his coworkers and began his walk home. He was already leaving out the back when he was stopped by Mr. Pesto.

"Jaune, I need to ask you something important."

"Yes, Mr. Pesto?"

"Do you remember my nephew? He goes to the same school you go to. His name's Denny. I got a phone call from my sister telling me he hasn't been home lately, and she was starting to worry."

"Denny? I think I share an algebra class with him, but I didn't see him today." The teen told the older man causing Mr. Pesto to shake his head. "I'm sorry, Mr. Pesto. I know him from class, but I was never really close to him to know anymore."

"It's not your fault, Jaune. Lately he's been hanging around with other Faunus at school." The man's voice was starting to grow anxious.

"Isn't that a good thing? I mean, I lived in a village, so I don't see racism often, but he at least has friends. Maybe he was staying at their place?"

"Not this type of group, kid. Apparently, his mother told me he was being bullied, making him distant at home." The bull Faunus informed him.

 _How come the only bully I'm thinking of is Flash? Who am I kidding, of course it's probably him._

"And that group decided that Denny should join them."

"Ya. I'm sure you heard of the White Fang." Mr. Pesto's tone turned dark after he mentioned the radical terrorist group.

"The group that fights for Faunus equality?" When Jaune spoke of what the group did the older man lifted his head up and laughed.

"Fighting for our rights? They're just shedding blood. They don't know what the Faunus want anymore." Mr. Pesto's sounded bitter at the groups actions recently.

"The White Fang recruited him?" Jaune said gravely. "Have they always tried doing this in school?"

"No, they usually do it discreetly, but with how Spider-Man's been going around giving the Faunus a good rep, less and less were joining." Mr. Pesto explained.

"So, they must be getting even more active in trying to gain followers." The young spider placed both his hands on his head. He already had his plate full trying to track down the boss pulling the strings. Now, he has a missing person to find too.

"I just wanted to know if you knew anything. Thank you for your time." Mr. Pesto turned away to go to his car when Jaune stopped the older man.

"I won't say that I understand how you feel right now, Mr. Pesto. But I will try to help as much as I can. I promise." Mr. Pesto seemed to believe the young spiders words. Usually, he doubted other people and their promises, but with Jaune it seemed that he was dead set on keeping that promise. Mr. Pesto grabbed Jaune's hand and gave it a shake.

"Thank you, Jaune." And with that, Mr. Pesto left him alone behind the diner. Jaune's fist clenched to his side with his mind now dead set on stopping whatever's happening to Vale.

 _I may not be able to do much, but I rather try and do something now before it's too late._

* * *

As he arrived back home, Jaune made sure to wait till Aunt May retired to bed before he left the house dressed in his spider costume and began his pursuit to locate Denny.

Shooting a web to the roof of a high five story apartment, Spider-Man launched himself high in the air and shot another web to nearby building, gaining momentum for the hero to start his web swinging.

"Ok, dust thefts, White Fang, Denny. All of these things must be connected. This can't be a coincidence for there to be this many." Web swinging higher in the air, Spider-Man shot a web line on to the side of a tall business building and pulled to take a sharp right turn.

Letting go of both of his web lines, Jaune did a back flip in the air, crossed his arms and shot two lines in front of him. He pulled his arms to his sides as he rocketed into the air for a bird's eye view. What Jaune could see below him was several roads with cars stuck in traffic, police cars near a few accidents, and over hundreds of people walking home or exploring the night life.

 _Ok, time for a close up._

Sky diving straight down, the web slinger was only a few feet from eating the pavement when he ejected a web line. He jerked to the right and started web swinging close to the streets.

 _So weird. I'm web swinging and I don't feel like vomiting in my mask. I wish I could say the same whenever I need to use air transportation._

It was always weird to him that while he web swings he feels right as rain, but when Aunt May takes him somewhere that require a bullhead, he immediately empties his entire stomach. Apparently, spider powers can't help everything in Jaune's body, but he was glad that he has some way to enjoy flight. After all, a spider that web swings and gets sick while doing it doesn't sound that appealing.

Taking a sharp left to the shopping district, Spider-Man was planning to web higher, but the back of his skull started to tingle. Following his instinct to get closer to where it was triggering his spider sense he came across a quiet street with no one around. A Dust shop across the street from the building he landed on seemed to have suspicious movement inside making him assume it was Roman's boys doing their regular routine.

"Hello flies, said the spider. Denny would have to wait, I need to do some clean up." Jaune said to himself. "Time for a little shock and awe."

Jumping off the roof, Jaune web lined to the Dust shop to land on its roof. Running to the back alley he jumped off and landed behind the store, surprising the crooks from his sudden entrance.

"Ok, fellas, you know the drill. Put away the Dust and I won't beat... you... much." Spider-Man was used to seeing the usual thugs with bowler hats, but with the help of his night vision he could see that these dark figures were wearing a black and white uniform with masks hiding their faces.

"Um, do you all have a certain dress code now? Or is this your casual Friday outfit?"

The crooks started to get their bearings and soon began to circle the hero. Their guns pointed directly at him.

"Don't move." The thief in front of Spider-Man said. "I don't want to hurt one of our own."

"One of your own? Dude, I'm wearing red and blue." Jaune grabbed a fist full of fabric from his costume. "Unlike you guys I only have the one outfit. Can't really make another design on my measly hero pay check, now can I?"

The group didn't seem to find that funny as they get closer with the barrel of their guns just a few feet away from the superhero's head. "We don't want to hurt you Spider-Man. The White Fang don't hurt their own. Just let us go and we won't cause any harm to the human."

When the leader of the group told him there was a hostage, the hero narrowed his eyes at the White Fang. "Ok, ok, I surrender." Raising both hands to show he was unarmed, the armed Faunus lowered their guns. Some seemed relieved that they don't have to fight the web head.

"Why are guys doing this? Usually I stop guys in suits, but this is the first time I see you all doing this."

"We're just getting what we deserve. You should understand." The boss of the group said and raised both his arms to his side. "For so long the Faunus have been treated poorly. It's time to take what we deserve."

"Yeah, I can see the taking part." Jaune said in with a hint of bite. Some of the group to look at each other wondering if this was the right idea. "Do you honestly believe that this is the right action? Your bringing people that have no business with any of this into your conflict."

"How can you say that?" The leader sounded genuinely surprised by the hero's statement. "You, who also wear a mask, doing whatever you like with no consequence, telling us that fighting for our equality are in the wrong."

What the man said caused Spider-man to put his arms down as he started to tremble. He knows what the consequences are. He always remembers when he returns home, when he eats with Aunt May with an empty seat across from them, and most of all when he looks at his mask, showing him what made him into the hero he is now.

 _With great power comes great responsibility. I can't let my anger get the better to me. I need to talk them down before they decide letting me live is too much of a risk._

"Please, whatever you're doing, do-"

 ***BANG***

Whatever he was about to say immediately died in his throat as a gun shot into the store causing him to move from his spot and spring into action.

"I said don't mo-" The leader lifted his gun to threaten him, but he was quickly knocked out when Spider-Man landed a punch in the middle of his face, causing the mask he was wearing to shatter. As the Faunus was lifted in the air from the force of the punch, Spider-man turned around and lunged towards the rest of the armed criminals.

 **TWIP! TWIP! TWIP! TWIP! TWIP! TWIP!**

A blur of fists and kicks impacted them. Their masks shattered, along with several of their bones. As the bodies hit the ground or walls Jaune placed webbed nets over them, immobilizing them for when the authorities arrive to take them away.

After the brief flash of anger vanished, the teen hero rushed inside the store, hoping that whatever he heard was a trick and no one was injured. When he reached the front of the store he saw another White Fang member holding a gun with shaking hands, his voice half choking and half sobbing.

"H-he didn't listen… I-it's not my fault." He told himself over and over again.

Spider-Man didn't understand what happened to make him fire his weapon, or why he was acting like this. As his eyes trailed downward he saw an unmoving body face down on the floor, a small puddle of blood forming underneath.

 ** _Uncle Ben!_**

"Get away from him!" Jaune shouted to the White Fang criminal. The scared Faunus snapped out of his shock and aim his gun with quivering hands.

"S-stay back!" He screamed, but Spider-Man didn't listen. His sights were only on the injured man on the floor. With no sign of stopping the shooter fired a round aimed at the spider's head, but missed by a few inches when the hero dodged and delivered a straight punch to the killer.

Jaune still held back his strength, he knew if he truly let go he'd seriously harm someone, or worse. So, when the robber landed on his back Spider-Man jumped on top of him and prepared himself to deliver another punch but stopped when he saw who was behind the mask.

"P-please don't hurt me." Denny said while placing his hands over his face for protection. "I'm a Faunus too. We're all fighting for the same goal!" He whimpered as he tried to stop his punishment.

 _Denny? Mr. Pesto's nephew? Why would you do such a thing, Denny?_

While the wallcrawler was staying motionless, Denny used this opportunity to grab a jar of Dust and smash it on the side of the hero's head. The surprise attack caused him to loosen his grip on his classmate, allowing him to crawl away and escape.

Jaune was about to web him to the floor when he heard groaning coming from the injured man. Giving up his chase of Denny he chose to tend to the wounded store owner.

"Why are you helping a human?" Denny asked as he tried backing away from his crime. "You damn traitor!" The scared teen made a mad dash to the back door, leaving only Spider-Man to clean up his crime.

"Please." Jaune begged, his webbing trying to close the wound. "Please hang on. Help's on the way." His words of encouragement made the man to open his eyes as he tried to stay awake to give his thanks.

"Thank you, stranger." He said weakly.

"Don't thank me." The teen hero told him, his arms still holding tight. "Just please, please be ok."

 _Please don't die like Uncle Ben._

* * *

 **Well, that turned bad real fast. I know once again that you all thought that this chapter was a rematch for Spider-Man to fight Roman and Neo, but it seems his personal life always bleeds into his hero career making it so much harder for him to separate the two.  
**

 **This chapter is about how he has to deal with close friends he knows joining bad groups. He knows the right thing, but it's hard trying to help others when they keep fighting him. The last chapter was a way to show how his normal life keeps intertwining with his Spider-Man persona, 'causing him even more trouble when he knows what their doing, but can't say anything if he wants to let his cover be blown  
**

 **Hope you all like this chapter, and like always feel free to comment, fav, and also check out my Beta-Reader too.  
**

 **The next chapter will be of coarse the docks, so hope you all tune in next time. I try and release a chapter every Sunday or every other Sunday.**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 The Voice of Reason

"Good Morning. Welcome to the Vale Morning News." The field reporter said to the camera, her back facing a closed Dust shop. "As you can see behind me, this was the first Dust shop that was ransacked by the now notorious terrorist group, the White Fang. For the past several days there has been an increase of White Fang activity throughout the kingdom. Several owners were either subdued or injured in the robbery, but many who were working for the largest Dust company, the SDC, are either missing or found dead just a few blocks away from their shop."

The scene now changed to show the inside of the Dust shop, its contents now gone with only empty shelves and open cabinets.

"This shops owner was a 58-year-old, Joshua Harris, a married man with two kids having a family of their own, lives just two blocks away from his establishment." The camera pans away to show a family photo, their bright smiles flashing with glee at seeing their father enjoy his 58th birthday.

"It was just a normal day for Mr. Harris. With many of his regular customers saying that he was a kind man who helped them whenever they needed it. Mr. Harris was about to close for the night when out of nowhere several White Fang members came from the back of the store and threatened to shoot him if he didn't give away his Dust."

The next picture showed was the same Dust owner, only instead of a happy old man it showed him sickly pale attached to several wires on a medical bed in a hospital.

"The owner complied with the armed robbers, but was soon shot afterward. One of the bystanders that was close to the street heard the gunshot and immediately called the police. By the time the authorities arrived they found several of the White Fang webbed to the walls and floors outside. The injured man was found breathing and conscious, detailing to them on what happened."

The scene changed to show a large text box with a picture of Mr. Harris next to it and the reporter's voice reading it out loud.

"After I was shot I saw a pool of own blood getting larger and larger. I was sure I was going to die. Suddenly I felt a pressure on my wound and woke up from the pain. Spider-Man was there holding me in his arms and telling me everything was going to be ok. From the sincerity in his voice I believed him. We heard the sirens nearby and since I was awake I told him he should leave before they try to arrest him."

The text box vanished, and the face of the reporter returned, but instead a Dust shop behind her it was a hospital with a large group of protesters holding signs with drawn spider symbols.

"Mr. Harris is now charged for being an accessory for the escape of Spider-Man. Because of the choice the Council made many people are now in uproar with some people defending Mr. Harris' choice to help the vigilante escape. Here are their comments about what they think of the Council's decision."

Multiple people in the large protest group stepped forward, each saying what they think of the crime Mr. Harris was charged with.

"Unfair. The Council only took notice of the web head when this kingdom started to take a liking to him."

"Mr. Harris is a good man. I always visit him just to talk about how our days went. To know that he was injured, saved by our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, and is being charged with helping him escape makes me wonder if the Council has too much power."

"It was thanks to Spider-Man that Mr. Harris' even alive. Not only that, it's thanks to that man that most people are safe and that's why we're here, to show our support for Spider-Man. It's high time we start putting our foot down and show the Council not all people wearing a mask are evil!"

Back with the reporter, several mugshots appeared next to her showing several Faunus.

"Many more Dust shops were hit throughout these several days, and like all those before them White Fang members were found tied up in webs with notes attached to them and masks shattered, revealing their identity. With the increase of White Fang activity, the Faunus community made a statement that they are against the White Fang and their evil agenda. Here are some real-time comments from the Faunus community and their stance with the criminal group."

Again, the camera shifted to show the Faunus also holding spider signs next to humans in a common goal to stand against Mr. Harris's unjust crime.

"The White Fang lost sight of their true goal once they started to shed blood on both sides. Spider-Man's doing his best to stop them from falling any further."

"Spider-Man is like a bridge for both humans and Faunus to show that we're all people trying to make a better place not only the for the kingdom of Vale, but for all the kingdoms to show that we should ban together to show we are not afraid."

"It just seems so unreal. The White Fang tried for so long to get equal rights to the Faunus, but no one listened. Now here we are, in the present, the White Fang's using acts of violence with the poor Faunus who aren't in the group being punished. But thanks to Spider-Man people feel safe for some reason with some humans and Faunus working together for a common goal. No one ever thought that one man could make changes so quickly, but I guess when your Spider-Man it's possible."

"I think that Spider-Man was once part of the White Fang and left when he realized how it was changing for the worst. Now, he tries to not save just the Faunus, but also humans from harm. I think that's why everyone loves him, because he doesn't see human or Faunus, just people that need help."

The scene changed again to the news room with a well-dressed man at the center of the table.

"With many of the recent crimes being Dust related thefts, people now think that the White Fang is working along the infamous, Roman Torchwick. Police and Huntsmen are still trying to capture him, but no results so far. Thank you for tuning into Vale morning news."

* * *

"There's just no way." Blake immediately told the blond monkey Faunus who showed her the news on his Scroll. "I can't believe that Roman of all people would be working with the White Fang."

"I don't know, Blake." Sun, the Huntsman-in-training from Mistral, said while following behind her. "The police found the White Fang in webs at the Dust shop. I mean, you heard them on the news. The White Fang are stealing Dust, and the only person who's stopping them is Spider-Man."

The girl wearing the bow could only shake her head in denial at what she saw. For years she joined the White Fang for the Faunus to have rights, but as the years passed they became a shadow of there former selves, with many members agreeing to using fear as a way for Remnant to take them seriously. She left because she didn't want to be part of it anymore, and thought others would do the same. Instead, she saw the White Fang being sent to prison with Roman Torchwick leading them in such criminal acts.

And to make it even more ironic, the White Fang are now being shunned by the Faunus community of Vale along with the humans. She should be happy to see both human and Faunus standing side by side against a common foe, but to see them fight the White Fang made her feel conflicted at the notion that the group she once fought for being the villains of this story.

Seeing the members who were being arrested she noticed many looked young and inexperienced, making her realize that the White Fang are recruiting younger Faunus without proper training. Just how far have they truly fallen? With so many being put away she could only think of one person who could be responsible.

 _Spider-Man._

The cat Faunus instantly came to a stop, causing the blond Huntsman-in-training to bump into her. She wanted to say that it was Adam who was responsible for this, even Roman, but the thought that it was Spider-Man doing what was right at sending them to prison for their crimes made her feel terrible inside for blaming him.

 _Am I just jealous? I spent so long trying to make a difference helping the White Fang with barely any sign of change, but when this guy wearing nothing but a red and blue jumpsuit shows up doing smalls things such as helping cats come down from trees and saving someone from accidents, he immediately gets called a hero._

Blake can see why Weiss didn't like Spider-Man, making it even more ironic to her. Just like the Schnee the cat Faunus joined the White Fang and enrolled into Beacon because she thought they could help her change humans view on the Faunus. Rather then what she hoped could happen, the White Fang are now being treated as terrorist, and the team she joined knows her secret, leaving her no choice but to leave Beacon. Now she is here, followed by a stowaway with only one objective in mind.

 _I can't let this keep going. I'm going to stop this before it gets worse. The one who knows most about this is Spider-Man. Not even professional Huntsmen could find him, but I know someone who might._

Blake knew that pictures involving Spider-Man were tricky to come by. A man that could swing from building to building and elude the authorities explains why not many could ever capture a single photo of him. The Huntress stopped in front of the same diner she once visited with her team, took a deep breath, and walked inside.

As she entered Blake could see not many people were here, making it much easier for her to talk to the person she needs answers from.

"Blake, is that you?" A familiar voice made her shift her gaze at the waiter. The boy's face showing confusion as to why she was here without the rest of her team.

"Why are we here again?" Sun asked her with the same confusion as the human waiter.

"Hello, Jaune. Table for two please."

"Wait, you know him?" The monkey Faunus said, his tail extending straight up to show its surprise.

The waiter stared at her for a couple of seconds before shifting his sights to the boy next to her. "Ok, coming right up." Jaune told her while grabbing two menus from the counter. "Please follow me."

She can see that he already has questions as to why he was so quick to get them a table. That's fine for her, she had questions too, so it'd only be fair for both to answer.

* * *

 _What the heck's going on?_

That's the question Jaune was asking himself while pouring another hot pot of coffee into Blake's mug. He expected to see Ruby and her friends sooner, but they haven't shown up like they promised. He just assumed they forgot or were too busy with Huntress training.

 _On a side note, who the heck is this guy and why is he showing his abs?_

Jaune knows the whole 'no shirt, no shoes, no service' shtick, but this guy's pushing it. The waiter was glad that the diner wasn't full or else they'd have eyes all over them. Especially the spiky blonde-haired Huntsman letting his abs out without a care in the world.

"So, anything on the menu that you guys want to try?" Jaune asked them.

"I'll have sunny side up eggs with a side of pancakes." The blonde-haired Faunus said. "Oh yeah, my name's Sun by the way." Sun leaned back and put his arms behind his head to show more of his shirtless body. Somewhere in the diner a gasp was heard followed by something hitting the floor.

 _I'm just going to ignore that just happened. I don't want to be the one cleaning up that mess._

"And you, Blake? You want to have the salmon like last time?"

"Just an omelet, please." Jaune wrote down her order and headed to the kitchen.

Placing the note on the counter he grabbed a large platter of food passed to him by a young female chef with brown hair and tan skin.

"Here. This foods for the family across from that emo girl and the hot guy." She said to her coworker.

"Thanks Gwen." Jaune told her. Like Jaune, Gwen's also a part time worker, but the difference between them was that Jaune only has two more side jobs while Gwen's true job is a camp counselor during the summer.

"Hey, before you go, do you mind telling me who those two are?" Gwen asked her blonde coworker. "What's the deal with those two? Are they super models or something, 'cause I had to drag Samantha to the back to get some rest after she fainted."

 _Man, I hope you didn't have to use a mop to clean up any other messes she left._

"The girl in black's Blake, and the guy not wearing an actual shirt's called Sun." He explained to her. Gwen loved to hear gossip, especially if it involves drama, and since Mr. Pesto's taking a few days off to help his sister find Denny she was filling in for the time being, talking about anything that interests her whenever she gets bored. "They're both Huntsmen-in-training."

"Really?" Gwen said her eyes going wide. "Didn't know they looked like that, especially if they fight Grimm dressed like that." She told him while eyeing both Blake and Sun with how little their dressed.

"They're just students." He explained. "I'll tell you more later." Placing the tray in his arm Jaune walked to table of five and gave them their food.

"Hope you guys enjoy." He said while giving them his best smile.

"Don't worry," The wife told him. "I'm already satisfied." Her eyes never even looked at Jaune, only Sun who was yawning and stretching his arms out showing even more of his body to the public.

The husband looked alarmed at his wife's statement signaling to Jaune that it's best to leave the couple's table before it started getting ugly.

"Ok, I'll come back when you guys are done." He told them quickly and rushed back to the kitchen to see an elated Gwen. "Did you finish the next order?"

"What?" She asked not even paying attention to her coworker.

"The order. For Blake and Sun."

"Uh? Oh, right." Gwen placed a platter with two plates in front of him and rang the diner bell. "There, it's ready. Now move your head, I'm watching quality TV."

The young hero looked behind him only seeing an arguing family. Blake and Sun looked at the married couple with concern. Turning back Jaune only gave Gwen a questioning gaze.

"We don't have a TV installed in the diner, Gwen."

"Not where I'm standing." She said before giving him a glare. "Now are you going to give the food to miss melodrama and muscles or not?"

Shrugging, Jaune walked back to Blake's table with their food. He chose to ignore the family shouting at each other across from them. "Here you go. Sorry for the wait. Is there anything else you guys need?"

"Nah, that's all dude, th-"

"Actually," Blake cut Sun off for her to speak to Jaune. "There is another reason why we're here."

"Really?" Jaune asked her. "I just thought that you two were on a date or something." That was at least the only reason the blonde spider could think since Blake's here with a boy and not the rest of her team. "Don't worry, I'll make sure Ruby and the rest of your team won't know your here."

"We're not dating." The tone in her voice made her sound offended at the concept, making Sun flinch at how quick her response was.

 _I feel your pain. I really do. Hopefully that'll be a wakeup call for you that not all girls will like you just because you have a six pack._

"Then why are you here, if I can ask?"

Blake looked around the establishment to make sure no one's listening before talking to Jaune again.

"We just want to talk about one of your jobs." Blake told him making Jaune even more confused.

"Not much to tell you. Like I said, I work part time here, as a desk clerk at a local Dust shop..."

"Do you have any other jobs?" She asked him, "I read an article from the Daily Bugle with photos taken from their newest reporter."

Taking a couple of seconds to digest how she knew that, Jaune slowly nodded before speaking to her again.

"Yeah, yeah, I work as a photographer at the Bugle. I'm not even sure I told Ruby that when you girls were here."

"That's because you didn't. The reason I said that was because whenever the Bugle publish a news article it's always pictures of Spider-Man." A soon as Blake told him that his blood immediately turned cold. "And when they do show the photo they put the name of the photographer..."

 _Oh no. Oh no, oh no, OH NO!_

"It took me some time to put the dots together, but I think I know what makes you and Spider-Man connected." As the black-haired Huntress kept talking, Jaune could only sweat bullets at how close she was for figuring out his secret.

 _This is it. She's going to say it out loud and I'm going to have to try and lie. To try and make up excuses that me and Spider-Man aren't the same._

"The reason you two are connected is because you're working together." After the unveiling both blondes looked at the girl in shock, though it only made Jaune more relived at how close she was to uncovering the truth.

 _Eh, sure, I can try and work with that._

"Wait, you know Spider-Man!?" Sun quickly put his hand over his mouth to stop talking. Both Sun and Blake looked around to make sure no one heard him, but with how loud the shouting from the angry couple was making it made a perfect distraction for them to continue.

"Sorry." Sun said while Blake was giving him a glare for his stupidity. "Seriously, dude, that must be awesome for you to know Spider-Man. How did you know him, or do you know who he is behind the mask?" The other boy's eyes were full of wonder, as if he just discovered the waiter was a celebrity.

"Well, I just know him 'cause I found him about to swing away from stopping a robbery." Jaune explained to the two customers, their stares centered to him. "We made a deal that if I ever find a crime, I tell him, so he'll be there before the cops and I would take his photos, so we can split the money."

"So, he's doing it for the money?" Sun asked, his voice full of disappointment.

"No! Well, he just needs the lien. He can't always be Spider-Man 24/7. He has a normal job too, but the pay he gets isn't helping the bills, so with my help we both thought we can benefit from each other."

"So, by day he's just a normal dude with an average job, but at night he's the awesome Spider-Man! Man, that's so cool. Reminds me of my Mistral cartoons!" The Faunus boy's view of the hero seemed even bigger than before.

"He's not a Huntsman?" Blake said to Jaune.

"No, he's just a regular guy behind the mask."

"That crosses out the idea that he was a Huntsman." Blake looked back at Jaune again with another question. "Did he ever tell you why he wears the costume? Did he say if he left a certain group?"

It took Jaune a few seconds to understand her question before his eyes narrowed at what Blake was implying.

"Do you mean he was once part of the White Fang?" Jaune asked making Sun look at Blake with surprise.

"Seriously!? No way that someone like Spider-Man would join those crazies. I mean, you gotta be a total wacko to... join..." Sun's words were immediately silenced when he saw Blake give him a solemn look. "Sorry." The blonde Huntsman apologized.

"It was a long time ago. We thought we could change how the world looked at the Faunus through peaceful protest, but that was long ago, and that's why I left them, so I could join Beacon." She explained.

 _Ok, either this is the best lead I have about the White Fang, or the worst thing for me to know since that would mean her team knows and why there not with her._

"Is that why your team's not here?" The question made her flinch due to how cold Jaune's voice asked her.

"I don't want them involved, they probably hate me for it. That's why I'm here, to ask if Spider-Man has any idea where Roman could be as well as where he might think the White Fang will hit next."

 _No clue. I have zero ideas as to where they'll be. I just catch them by surprise and ask them._

"He may have a few leads, but nothing that concreate." Jaune said making Blake curse under her breath. "But I'm sure he's close. I mean, with so many of them being put behind bars they'll become desperate enough to try and get more Dust from what shops have."

"They can't be that-" Blake stopped talking when an idea formed in her head. "Wait, you might be right."

 _I am!?_

"I am?!"

"You are. With Spider-Man putting so many Faunus in jail, they have no choice but try and go big on the next shipment of Dust." Blake explained with Sun adding in his own theory.

"And with Roman working with them he probably knows when the next shipment will be."

"If the White Fang are actually working with him then they must know that the only possible way to get large shipments of Dust is at the docks. Thanks for the help Jaune." Blake got up from her chair followed by Sun.

 _I helped!?_

"I helped?!" Jaune said in confusion. "Wait, Blake you-"

"Don't know what I'm getting myself in to? I know that I should leave this to the trained Huntsmen, but if by chance they are going to the docks tonight I'm going to stop it."

"Then before you go plea-"

"No, I won't let my team get caught in my mistake. I should've stayed, maybe then I could've changed the White Fang on the inside, but it's already too late." The two Huntsmen were already at the front exit before Blake turned her head to look at Jaune. "And if you could, I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell my team where I'm going to be."

"Blake, I'm serious don't le-"

"Good bye Jaune." With that final wave of her hand, the two students left the diner, leaving a defeated Jaune to hang his head.

 _Why? Why does my life have to keep getting more and more complicated?_

"Hey!" His boss shouted, her head sticking out of the kitchen window. "I saw what they did! That food's coming out of your paycheck!" Jaune banged his head on the door frame leaving a loud 'thud' to echo through the restaurant.

Walking back to the empty table, Jaune lifted the used plates from the table, but decided to put them down and bang his head again on the carry tray leaving a red mark on his forehead.

 _Seriously. What is with them and not leaving any tips!?_

* * *

"Come on. Where the heck is the docks around here?!" Jaune shouted while running to find where Blake and Sun left to. It was after his shift ended that he left the diner and pursued them on foot. The sun was already setting, but he couldn't take the risk of changing into his hero costume with a chance someone might spot him by accident. For a half an hour straight Jaune ran from street to street with no signs of stopping trying to find them or anyone from her team to help him.

Taking another turn Jaune's vision was soon assaulted with red, followed by someone's body colliding with his, causing him fall to the ground with his head now signaling danger was close.

Opening his eyes, the young hero's ocean blue eyes were staring into a pair of bright silver ones. The girl wincing in pain looked embarrassed with who was under her.

"J-Jaune?!" She squeaked.

"Ruby?" Jaune said in surprise. Both with how they met and how she rammed into him without his spider sense telling him after it happened.

 _She was so fast my spider sense didn't even register her a threat before it already happened. Does that mean her semblance is super speed?_

"Friend Ruby?" A female voice said from behind Ruby caused her to jump off the downed teen.

"P-Penny!?" Ruby shouted. "That wasn't what it looked like."

"What do you mean?" The ginger haired girl named Penny said, her head tilted to the side. "Is that not a normal greeting between you and your boyfriend?"

"B-B-Boyfriend!?" She shrieked. "Jaune's just a friend who's a boy and- wait a minute." Ruby turned her head to the blonde boy still stunned on the ground. "Have you seen Blake?!"

Snapping out of his stupor, the blonde hero dusted himself off and was about to tell her what he knows before remembering what Blake told him.

 _Blake doesn't want to have them get hurt with her problems. But she's wrong, her team's already hurt because she couldn't trust them with her secret._

 _She also made me pay for her food so..._

"Blake went to the docks with a guy named Sun." Ruby gasped in surprise. "She thinks that now you know her secret you guys probably hate her."

"What!? We don't hate her. We're trying to find her, so we can help."

"Well then I'm glad I found you. Go call the rest of your team. Hopefully they can get there before something big hap-" Jaune was soon cut off when a large explosion was heard several blocks away.

"Something big just happened." Penny said while pointing at the large mushroom cloud.

 _Seriously, all I wanted was to get a tip from them. I feel like I'll be getting in more trouble if I keep hanging out with students from Beacon._

"Come on, Penny. We need to hurry." Before the small huntress could leave, Jaune placed both his hand on her shoulders.

"You still need to call your team first. It's better to go in numbers then go alone." He told her.

"I won't be alone. I have Penny!"

"Hello!" Penny waved at the tall blonde teen.

"Hi." Jaune said to the other equally short girl next to him. "That isn't enough. Just because you guys are Huntresses-in-training doesn't mean it gives you the ability to take on everything by yourself."

"But I keep telling you-"

"No, I'm not going to let you go." The Huntress in his arms stopped struggling and stared wide eyed at him.

 _Why is her face starting to get red? She must really be mad at me for not letting her help Blake._

Ruby opened her mouth to say something, but closed it when she looked at Penny simply standing next to him, just staring at them. Her eyes lit up when she thought of something and spoke once more.

"Penny!"

"Yes, friend Ruby?"

"Jaune wants to be your friend!" After she said that made Penny to stare at Jaune, who was looking somewhat creeped out with how silent she is. "Right Jaune?" Ruby sounded pleased for some reason.

"You really wish to be friends?" The creepy ginger haired girl asked.

"Um." Jaune didn't know why she was leaning closer, but decided to answer so she can give him some space. "Sure, we're friends. So, can you please help-UGHMMPFF!"

"Sensational!" Penny screamed while lifting Jaune in the air and giving him a hug. "Two friends in one day! That is beyond the parameters I have calculated!" With the sudden action from Penny it caused the blonde to drop Ruby from his hold over her and focus on trying to set himself free.

 _Seriously! What does this girl eat!? **Steroids!?**_

"Good Job, Penny!"

"Ruby, just think about this for a moment!" Jaune said while using a bit of his spider strength to slowly pry Penny's arms off.

"Don't worry Jaune, with how large that explosion was there's no way Spider-Man didn't notice. He's probably there right now helping Blake take care of the bad guys!" She didn't even bother hiding her glee with the idea of her fighting alongside an actual superhero.

 _He's not there because **I'm right in front of you!**_

"Oh!" Penny's attention soon shifted after what Ruby just said. "Another one of those 'superheroes' I heard about and in the Kingdom of Vale no less. I must observe this for future reference."

Jaune was about to put more strength in his arms before he stopped at what Penny just said.

"Wait, what did you say about another super-OHMPF!" Jaune fell face first onto the solid concrete floor as Penny let him go to follow Ruby to the docks, leaving the hero to pick himself up.

 _Darn it! I'm already having enough trouble with the White Fang, now I have to worry about Ruby and her friends getting caught in this too?_

He was already having trouble with how Denny joined the terrorist group and sending someone to the hospital, he couldn't let even more innocent people be harmed because of the White Fang and their misguided attempt for equality any further.

 _Can I do it? This isn't some normal robbery, there's more lives at stake. A single error and someone could- NO!_

"I'll save them." Jaune looked at his shaking hands, thoughts of what might go wrong flashing in his head. "Not just Ruby and her friends, but the White Fang too." With his mind made up, Jaune clenched his fists and made his way to the docks. Determined to finally settle this petty dispute.

 _I won't let any more people get hurt. Not again! I was given these powers for a reason and it's my responsibility to end this once and for all._

* * *

Blake thought that if she somehow stopped Roman, the members of the White Fang would stop following the human's orders and think for themselves.

Oh, how wrong she was.

She kept denying that the peaceful group she used to know wasn't like this, that it was Roman's doing that made them commit these acts throughout Vale. But when she saw that both Roman and the White Fang were actually working together shattered any semblance of the White Fang she once knew. If that wasn't enough of an insult to her pride, she and Sun were trying to fight Roman to the best of their abilities only for them to be taken down with ease.

As the two teens were getting ready to attack, Roman pointed his weapon and fired at a crane holding a shipping crate, causing it to fall on top of them leaving them no choice but to jump out of the way.

With a 40ft container separating them Roman was about use the opportunity to finish the blonde monkey before a familiar voice made him stop.

"Hey!" Ruby shouted on top of a warehouse, Crescent Rose drawn and impaled in the roof ready to be used.

"Well hey, Red!" Roman said sarcastically while giving Sun a good opportunity to get away and help Blake. "Isn't it past your bedtime?"

"Ruby, are these your friends?" Penny asked, shifting Ruby's attention.

"Penny, get back!" Ruby screamed before turning just in time to see a large red Dust round headed straight at her. If her uncle or her dad were here they would've berated her for letting her attention be so easily broken, and with the unstable flare so close it was impossible for her to dodge in time!

 **TWIP! TWIP!**

Ruby was getting ready for the intense heat and pain, only to fell something attached to her followed by a burst of wind and someone wrapping a strong arm securely around her midsection.

"Wow, talk about a heroic entrance. Are you girls ok?" The person who saved her asked making her eyes go wide open at who was talking to her.

Turning her head, her eyes stared at a symbol of a spider on a blue sleeveless hoodie then looked up to see who saved her.

 _Oh my gosh, it's really him! It's... It's..._

"Spider-Man." She said, as if saying out loud made her even more safe from harm.

"Hey, you can talk!" He chuckled. "And here I thought I had to deal with another fan girl." The masked spider then looked at Penny who was staring at him with curiosity instead of the usual wide mouth reactions Spider-Man is often greeted with.

"Can you both stand?" His cheery tone dropped and replaced with a more serious voice that made Ruby shocked at how he changed so quickly.

"Yes, we're fine. Thank you for saving me. Again." She said to the hero. "But my friend's down there fighting Roman and the White Fang! We need to help her!" The young Huntress looked down to see both Blake and Sun pinned behind cover with several of the White Fang closing in on them.

"Ok, you two stay here. I'm gonna handle those guns. When it's safe you guys can jump down to help your friends." Spider-Man then proceeded to let them go.

Ruby was about to protest at the idea when the hero jumped from crate to crate, leaving her and Penny alone. As Spider-Man descend to the ground, he took one last giant leap and unleashed a hail of webbing in the air. Each shot hitting their intended mark of jamming their rifles and stopping their forward assault on the helpless teenagers.

Landing at the center of the action, the hero stood up at his full height causing some of the White Fang to back away with the hero so close to them. The only one who showed any movement was Roman, shoving away the stunned zealots so he could come face to face with the bug he thought he killed.

"You!" Roman pointed melodic cudgel dead center on Spider-Man's chest.

"The one and only." Spider-Man said while putting his hands on his hips. "Surprised to see me, Roman? For real though, are you surprised? I honestly can't tell with how much eye liner you smear all over your face."

"Why are you here?!"

"What can I say Roman." Spider-Man shrugged his shoulders showing that even when surrounded he had no care in the world. "You're just as awful at trying to kill me as you are at trying to steal Dust. And just like how you do your make-up, it always ends in failure"

As soon as Spider-Man said that many of the Faunus nearby started to look at each other before having all eyes on a now sweating Roman.

"Now, we can try to finish what we started weeks ago, but I'm not here for you." Spider-Man told him then moved his gaze to the White Fang. "I'm here for all of them."

"Seriously?" Roman now started get his composure in check and gave the hero a smirk. "Are you gonna say the same thing that little kitty over there tried to preach."

 _No, I don't know anything about the White Fang and how much they've been through, but I know a different way for them to listen to me._

"No, I'm not like her." Spider-Man motioned his head to Blake, her team leader finally arriving when the gunfire stopped. "I don't know anything about the White Fang because I never joined."

The sudden revelation caused almost every member of the White Fang to talk amongst themselves, their voices starting to get louder and louder. Roman was already at his limit with how his plan was already dead in the water, so throwing caution to the wind the master criminal shot a round in the air silencing them.

"So what? You want them to surrender? To have a look inside themselves and see the error of their ways?" Roman taunted as he took a quick puff of his cigar.

"Yes." Spider-Man said with no hesitation, causing Roman to cough. Pounding his chest to get some air in his lungs, the thief looked at the hero as if he finally lost his mind with most of the Faunus thinking the same thing.

"What are you trying to pull?" He asked the red and blue spider.

"I'm not tricking you, Roman. And I'm serious with what I just said." Taking his eyes away from Torchwick, Spider-Man started to talk to the Faunus with his voice getting louder for all to hear.

"I'm not here to stop the White Fang. No, I'm here stop dads and moms for committing crimes they tell their kids they should never do. I'm here to make sure young boys and girls who are just entering adulthood that their life's just beginning and that they shouldn't waste it here." Spider-Man paused, taking a few deep breaths while seeing if his words are reaching them.

"It may look like the White Fang is the only option for you, that you're making the world a better place for the Faunus. But the only thing you're doing is making the world prove a point that the White Fang are nothing but a bunch of radical thinkers who use fear to gain attention. That they're terrorists!" The young teen shouted as he started shaking with anxiety.

"Don't let the White Fang define you by making you do these acts of violence as if it's the only way. With great power comes great responsibility. If you truly want to prove people wrong about Faunus, then do the right thing. Put down the weapons, don't let the past and the present of hate and prejudice control you. Take responsibility of your life, don't let people like Roman drag you down to their level." With more and more Faunus starting to see what they were doing just a few moments ago seem like the wrong choice, Spider-Man made one more attempt for them to side with him and stop before they do something they might regret for the rest of their lives.

 _Ok, it's time to add one more nail to the coffin. Please, please make this work. I already have too much blood in my hands, I don't want any more innocent deaths hanging over me._

"But if you truly want this. If you really want to go down this road then I only have one request." Placing one arm on his chest and the other pointed at the four teens ready to fight if things go south Spider-Man told them his request with acceptance showing in his voice.

"Let them go and kill me instead."

* * *

 **So all of you wanted this to happen, the fight at the docks, Spider-Man getting a little pay back, and Blake to have a happy reunion with her team. All well and good, but that still doesn't help with the one main problem in the show. Spider-Man tries to help anyone he can save, even try and save the bad guys. Jaune also saw how the use of force didn't really solve much either, just sent more people to jail with dust stores still getting robbed.**

 **Like Jaune, he is just a regular guy behind his mask, the same with the Faunus behind the mask of the White Fang. He is not trying to save the image of the White Fang since he never joined the group like Blake did. Instead, he is talking to them as normal people who have lives outside the mask, who have families waiting back home wondering where they are and if they will ever come back.**

 **Just like how most people join gangs to feel more safe, many joined the White Fang for the same reason only they are the ones causing harm to others. Spider-Man is trying to tell them that this isn't a healthy way for them to live, telling them that if they continue they will hurt people or worse kill them. He doesn't want that burden over their heads like how Uncle Ben's death effects Jaune's life. That's why he doesn't want to fight them. Because Jaune is just like them, he could have used his powers to finally get back at the world, but a wise man helped him get back on track and he's going to do the same for them too.**

 **Hope you guys like this chapter I know this looks like a huge data dump, but since this is about Jaune and not Beacon it just shows the major points in the show with Spider-Man joining in on the action.**

 **Please like, comment, and fav this story! And once again check out my Beta-reader: Maestro Of Madness. He also has some awesome stories so as soon as your finished with mine go check them out. Thank you!**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: All Eyes On Me

"Pff... BWH HA HAA HA HAA HA! Oh man, my sides! They're cramping up something bad!" For more then two minutes Roman started to lose all sense of control and laughed at what the teenage spider said out loud.

"I'm serious." Spider-Man said to Roman, his voice devoid of any humor.

"So am I! HA HAA HAA HA!" Already the dapper thief started to produce tears from his laughing, his eyes continuing to pour liquid down his cheeks. "I can't believe you actually said that!"

Wiping away his stray tears, Torchwick looked to see the silent White Fang and started to laugh even harder. Every Faunus who heard Spider-Man's speech were stunned in silence. Roman assumed they were thinking the same as him.

 _They probably think how stupid the bug is if for actually saying that! I'm gonna to enjoy what comes next!_

"You are so delusional. You actually think that what you're preaching will make them stop?" The thief spun his cane in hand as he started walking. "They're doing it because they want too, so you might as wel-"

"SHUT UP!"

The sudden outburst made everyone jump from how loud the masked hero shouted. Even the students from Beacon flinched at how furious he sounded.

"No way. There is no way they want to do this!" To the other people in the area it looked like he was talking to himself more than anything. "I saw one of them shoot an innocent man. I saw real emotions on his face. He didn't want to do it, and I know none of them want to either!"

Suddenly, an image of Denny appeared in Spider-Man's head. His face showing his worries for his life, for the life he thought he took, and above all else, if his family will know what he did.

 _If he really wanted to join, then why did he look like he knew he made a mistake? If he thinks he was wrong, then I'm sure most of them here think the same._

Spider-Man turned to see the White Fang. Even though they are all wearing masks he can still see their bodies showing their emotions.

Fear.

Anger.

Apathy.

Empathy.

All these negative emotions swirling all around him. But the one thing that still showed in all of them, regardless of what Roman said, was an emotion he was all to familiar.

Regret.

 _In some small way, I'm like them. I have these powers, powers that are beyond what people imagined, powers that I could get what I want and punish those I deem who deserve it. But I didn't, because that won't change anything that was taken and taking it out on people won't make it any better._

 _It won't bring back Uncle Ben for my mistake._

"Just shut up," Roman took the cigar from his mouth and stomped it in anger as the vigilante continued. "If they truly want to take this path, if they truly wish to take a life tonight." Spider-Man stepped forward and brought both his arms in the air for the White Fang that still have a clear shot for them to take.

"Then take mine!" He said one more time.

"Wait, Spider-Man, we can hel- MPPFH!" Ruby was about to run to the hero to assist, but Blake quickly grabbed her hoodie and covered her mouth.

The cat Faunus knew that stopping her friend from helping Spider-Man was angering the hooded girl, but she needed to see how the White Fang were going to react.

Nothing. Not one of them were doing anything.

 _They're finally thinking for themselves and their starting to see what they're doing is a huge mistake._

By now the ones who do still have a weapon in their hands would have already circled around them and got ready to fire. Instead they're just standing in place, listening to what Spider-Man's saying and beginning to hesitate on what they thought they were doing is right.

Roman's humor came to an end when his patience for the masked vigilante finally ran dry. Twirling his cane, he slammed it on the ground and raised his fingers next to his head to signal his entourage to get ready to fire on his command.

"As much as I'd like to stay and chat some more, I have some important errands to run. So, I think I'll just end you all here and now." With a snap of the thief's fingers the White Fang and Ruby's friends readied their weapons for a gunfight, but instead of the sound of bullets hailing in every direction only silence surrounded the docks.

Thinking that they didn't hear him, Roman snapped his fingers a second time with the same results as he tried again in frustration.

"What are you all doing!? Take care of these kids and get the Dust! By now the authorities are already closing in on us, so do something and. KILL! THEM!" Roman screamed at them for their disobedience.

For a moment, the armed group talking amongst themselves, arguing if they should listen to the human or not before one member stepped forward and aimed his weapon at his intended target.

"W-what are you doing?!" Roman asked as everyone seeing the display wondering the same thing.

"Finally taking responsibility." The White Fang member said. The unknown individual removed the mask to show his face to everyone. "I'm not listening to you or the White Fang!" Denny Pesto said while walking to Spider-Man's side with his gun still pointed to the Huntsman.

"You're making a stupid choice, beast." Roman seethed. "You know you're signing your life away if you take their side."

"I'm not taking anyone's side, Roman." Denny said while moving his eye to Spider-Man for a second before turning back to Roman. "I'm doing this for me. I joined thinking I would feel safe, but instead I'm doing what I hate the most. Being a bully."

Seeing one of their own decide to turn against the human, to turn against the White Fang, would mean betrayal and would be rectified that by shooting the traitor. But like dominos, one by one members of the White Fang put down their guns and walked to where Denny was standing. They each took off their masks to show their faces.

Each Faunus showed to have accepted what they had done and decided to take responsibility for their sins with their faces showing determination for whatever punishment awaits them. While others who had taken lives realized that the people they murdered might also have families of their own making them break down crying knowing that those families will never see their children or parents again because of what they've done.

"We're done doing whatever you tell us. Whatever the White Fang tells us! It's time for us to take responsibility!" With so many now joining Denny's side most Faunus who still had their masks on were now looking frantic at how so many members had left them by now.

Roman was already prepared his fall back plan. He slowly reaching in to his left breast pocket and pressed a button on his Scroll as he looked to see most of the White Fang starting to panic.

 _Amateurs. All of them!_

"Well, Spider, I got to give you some respect." He placed the hook of his cane on his arm and gave a slow clap. "You ruined the heist, made most of my goons actually grow a conscious, and yet you're still too late to stop me."

When he man finished speaking Spider-Man stepped forward from the large group to ask him what he meant when his spider sense kicked. He held his head with how strong his senses were blaring.

 _What! What is this? This intense pain, something big is about to happen. I need to stop Roman from doing whatever his new plan is!_

The hero extended his hands to web the criminal in a cocoon when suddenly bright lights circled around them. Several officers wearing riot suits came charging in and set another perimeter with guns at the ready.

"This is the police!" An armed officer holding a megaphone to his face. "Put your weapons down and place your hands on your head!"

With the ex-White Fang members complying with the police, the Faunus who were still part of the extremist group started to panic even worse, some even beginning to get itchy trigger fingers.

"Roman Torchwick. By the order of the Council, you are under arrest for the crimes committed against the kingdoms!"

Seeing that the police showed up in the nick of time the students sigh in relief that help finally arrived, with Roman about to be in cuffs all the better.

"It's over Roman. Tell the rest of your men to drop their weapons no-" Spider-Man was cut off when several lights aimed on him, along with a dozen red dots.

"Spider-Man! By the order of the Council, you are under arrest for the crimes of vigilantism within the kingdom of Vale!" The hero's eyes go wide under his mask. "Put your hands on your head and get down on your stomach. Now!"

"Seriously!?" Spider-Man instantly shot both of his arms in the air. "Are you kidding me!?"

"Wait, don't do it!" This time Blake let go of Ruby and followed her leader to stand next to the wall crawler. "He helped us. He's the reason why everyone here is turning themselves in!"

"We're from Beacon!" Blake informed the police. "We tracked Roman here and now you can arrest him! Thanks to Spider-Man, Roman is still here!" She hoped her explanation would make the Vale police turn a blind eye for the hero.

The police were starting to talk amongst themselves, wondering if what she said was true before everyone looked at Roman laughing to himself.

"It's so cute that you think that but..." Roman trailed off as one of the bullheads became air born. "My ride just arrived."

No one moved after they saw the bullhead hovered over them. The only one to move was Spider-Man reacting to his spider sense before a volley of bullets rained on top of them, causing everyone to scatter.

"Look out!" The young spider screamed at a police officer standing dumbfounded. Seeing that he was trying to fire at the air craft, Spider-Man shot two strings of webbing at the officer and pulled him to safety before the officer was turned into swiss cheese.

"Are you ok?" Spider-Man asked, receiving a nod of thanks. "Great. There are Faunus who aren't wearing masks. They're the good guys. Can you please tell your friends to not shoot them?"

"Sure, but what about those who are?" He asked.

Looking around, he saw that those who were still wearing masks were firing at the police and their ex brethren, while others were dropping their guns and running away thanks to the mass confusion.

"I'll make it easier for you guys. Just see if you can tell your friends not to shoot the wrong people!" The officer nodded and spoke into his walkie-talkie, leaving Spider-Man to web swing into the fray.

His plan was already in motion as he landed behind a cluster of armed Faunus gunning down police officers. There confusion left them vulnerable for him to strike from the rear. The blond spider shot a web line to the back of one of the shooters and pulled. The surprise attack caused the shooter to turn around and see Spider-Man waving at him.

"Sup."

Before he could react, Spider-Man pounced on top of him and pinned him to the ground as the Faunus started to scream in alarm. The noise made his comrades look at the arachnid and attempt to shoot both him and the Faunus beneath him when Spider-Man flipped forward and grabbed the man still on the ground. With the momentum of his front flip he threw the man towards the group.

The body knocked the group down and gave Spider-Man enough time to web them to the floor. The police who were pinned down were now given some breathing room to retrieve the wounded to safety.

 _Ok, now all I need is to watch out for the remaining White Fang, Roman, and the police from harming me. Yeah. Ok. Sounds easy- Behind me!_

"Die traitor!" The White Fang follower screamed waving a sword in the air.

The web head was about to punch him when a red blur encased him in rose petals and soon dispersed to reveal Ruby placing a boot on top of a passed-out goon.

"I did it! I helped!" She sounded pleased that she was helping Spider-Man.

It seemed courteous to give his thanks until he saw the bullhead starting to fire missiles at Blake, who was projecting clones of herself to make it harder for the piolet to aim.

"Ruby!" He shouted to the girl in the middle of praising her. "I need your help!"

"My h-help?" She asked him. Her eyes dilated at what she heard. "You mean like a team up?"

"Yes, a team up. I need you to get that bullhead's attention! Can you help me?"

 _Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! My first ever superhero team up! I'm living one of my childhood fantasies!_

"You can count on me!" With a quick salute, Ruby zipped to the front of the aircraft and shot several shells underneath the cockpit to get the pilot's attention.

Getting the results she expected, the pilot unleashed a turret of bullets at the young Huntress. Using her Semblance to dodge the shots her trail of rose petals were the only things that got hit. With the pilot's attention diverted, Blake used her opportunity to help the Faunus who wanted to help take down the remainder of the White Fang.

Using her semblance, the Faunus student used her clone as a target for the shooters to focus on while she circled around them and swiftly took them down one by one with none of them noticing her.

After she took down the last of the group she looked over her shoulder to see Sun on top of a stack of shipping crates fighting against two sword wielders attacking him on either side. The monkey boy shifted his weapon from bow staff to nun chucks with ease to parry and block their strikes before dealing his opponents a shot to their chests, sending them tumbling down the shipping crates. With them taken care of the monkey Faunus headed over to deal with a small cluster of unmasked Faunus battling their ex brethren.

The Faunus that were still masked held on just long enough for one of the members to open a wooden crate from one of the larger containers showing several cases of explosives. Taking a single grenade, the masked member pulled the pin and threw it in a wide arc. When he launched his arm forward he felt that his palm was empty.

Looking up he got a good view of a large web net latching itself to his face. He tried to claw at the sticky goo with zero success. The rest of his comrades provided no assistance as they too were ensnared by web strings, limiting their movement for Spider-Man to arrive just in time to disable them. A few quick fists and kicks and they fell to the ground.

 _It's working! here's only a few stragglers left._

Spider-Man saw most of the White Fang on the ropes With the help of the police, the unmasked Faunus, and the help of Ruby and her friends every member was being tied up and cuffed. With everything going so smoothly, the vigilante can get back to his main target.

 _Now, where did you go Roman?_

"You won't get away!" Turning to where the shouting came from he saw Roman enter the bullhead that was firing at them. The aircraft slowly began to raise itself back into the air with the criminal getting away. Ruby shifted her weapon back to its gun form and fired at the aircraft, but to no avail.

Spider-Man was nearby the shooting and was about to join the rest of the group, but before he could get there, Penny finally stepped up to the plate and stopped Roman from escaping.

Out of nowhere, the ginger girl summoned several swords around her. She sent the swords flying with each one piercing the tough metal of the bullhead, and stopped it from getting any higher. Penny was commanding the sword to reel it back to the ground, like a fisher man reeling in the big catch of the day. It was going along well, that was until the pilot trying to pull up was moved out of the chair for Roman to aim the weapons on Penny.

 _Oh no! I need to reach her before she becomes red smoke!_

As Spider-Man was closing in the world around him seemed to slow down. His feet were kicking off the ground, but it seemed that he still couldn't reach Penny in time before a missile was launched straight at her as she refused to let go of the bullhead. Seeing that he won't make it, he shot two web lines at the girl to pull her out of the way, but the missile was closer to her then his webs were.

Before the missile could hit her, someone pushed her out of the way as Denny Pesto became the new target. The missile detonated right next to him, followed by a huge shock wave knocking the young Faunus off his feet.

"Denny!" The blond hero shouted, jumping as high as he can. Spider-Man caught Denny in the air and softly landed on the ground to set the injured teenager down to see if he was ok.

 _Oh no..._

The side of Denny's face he could see showed no visible damage, making the web head hope that it wasn't too serious. But as soon as he turned Denny on his other side he tried not to vomit in his mask. Denny's entire right side of his face was shredded with fragments of steel imbedded to him. His right arm was in tatters with his forearm showing bone, and his leg was nothing but a stump with the thigh twitching uncontrollably trying to register if it had a leg or not.

 _I'm not even sure Aura can heal him with this much damage. I need medical help. FAST!_

"Help!" He shouted, not caring if his voice sounded desperate and scared. "I need help. He needs to go to the hospital fast!"

"S-Spider-Man?" Denny's left eye fluttered open surprised the hero.

"Denny!" Spider-Man was relived he was still alive. "Don't worry, help is on the way just ho-"

"Thank you." Out of nowhere Denny thanked the hero as he looked at the injured teenager.

"W-what are you talking about?"

"Thank you, for saving me." Denny started to have a fit of wet coughs with a thin trail of blood leaving his mouth.

"I didn't save you." The hero was starting to lose his composure. His eyes began to blur with tears. "I didn't save anyone."

 _I couldn't save you. I couldn't save most of the people that are still in the White Fang. And I couldn't save Uncle Ben from a simple street thug. Just what kind of hero am I!?_

"You did save me." He used his good arm to grip the fabric of Spider-Man hoodie and pull the masked hero closer. "You saved me from being something I'm not. A murderer." Denny's grip on his costume soon slackened, his eye starting to close. Spider-Man shook him to keep him stay awake for help to arrive.

"Hey! Hey! Stay awake! Help's on the way!" The frantic hero tried to keep Denny conscious, but with how much blood the young bull Faunus lost, it was only a matter of seconds before he stopped breathing.

"Thank you, Spider-Man." With his final breath, Denny's head went limp, his mouth no longer taking in air. The hero was left silent as he was left staring at the now dead body.

Getting back on his feet, Spider-Man looked at his now blood-stained gloves then back at Denny's still body. The silent hero didn't care that the police finally showed up, he didn't care that Ruby and Blake showed up either. The young hero's eyes were only looking at the bullhead rising into the air again with the culprit getting away. His body turned on auto piolet as his arms reached high into the air, as if trying take the bullhead from the sky. Soon his view of the aircraft grew bigger and bigger as the ground beneath him got smaller.

It soon caught his attention that he was no longer on the docks, but instead underneath the bullhead with his body firmly pressed to the cold metal. With Spider-Man's mind finally coming back in full swing, his emotions filled his entire body with blind rage at what was committed. The masked spider's only thoughts now were what's going to happen to Roman when he gets his blood-stained hands on him.

* * *

"How long until we're clear from the police!?" The master thief asked the White Fang piolet.

"We're several leagues above their plane of sight. It'll only take us two hours before we can set this bullhead down and use one of our escape routes."

 _And away from all those brats and that damn bug, Spider-Man!_

Finally letting his guard down, Roman sat on the passenger seat and looked at what he could grab before the plan went to hell.

 _One box. One measly box of Dust. This is rock bottom. I've never been humiliated like this in all my life! I'm Roman Torchwick, master thief, and now with that damn woman calling all the shots I'm reduced to being_ _her errand boy!_

"Tch!" The angry man spat on the floor at his disdain for his lowly status and reached for another cigar. "Damn it!" His hands soon flew out of his empty pocket and slammed it on the arm rest. With no form of nicotine to calm his nerves, he was about to start cursing up a storm when he felt something poke his side pocket.

Turning his head, he saw the Faunus pilot holding a cigar to Roman.

"Here. I don't know what brand you like, so I hope you like them cheap." Roman just stared at him with silence.

 _Well, what do you know..._

The thief gently took the cigar from the White Fang member's finger and gave a nod in thanks. He was about to use his cane to light his smoking habit until...

 **THUD!**

Suddenly, a strong force caused the aircraft to shake uncontrollably. The Huntsman lost his grip on his cigar, causing it to fall and land between his legs. The nicotine stick was soon sent rolling underneath the control system leaving Roman to stare at where his last cigar was.

"What was that!?" He screamed.

"Just some turbulence. It'll pass soon, no need to worry."

Roman knew that not worrying was one of the key things that would kill someone in his line of career. Getting out of his chair he went to the middle of the bullhead and opened the main door hatches, allowing the rush of cold wind to nip at his face.

The sight of rushing winds and large clouds made him think that maybe he was getting paranoid. Before he could close the hatches a pair of red boots collided with his face.

"RAAAAH!" The web slinger screamed as he landed in a crouch while Roman crashed on his back. A loud noise was heard as Roman's head banged on the solid cold metal surface.

The adult Huntsman tried to clear his eyes from the stars circling him, but as he tried to get up and back on his feet he heard the voice of the Spider devoid of any emotion.

"His name, was Denny Pesto." Spider-Man told the only person in front of him.

With his eye sight fixed, Roman swung his cane at the head of his opponent with a downward strike, only for the hero to jump to the side and land on the roof.

"He went to a school, called Midtown High."

Roman already aimed his cane at the bug, but decided against it if he wanted to escape alive. Flipping the cane to aim the hook at the hero, he fired the hook and watched it wrap around the intruder's leg. He pulled the hero down to force him to fall. At least, that's what he hoped would happen, but as soon as he pulled his cane down the wire snapped causing him to stumble.

"His only family was his mom, dad, and his uncle Noel Pesto. Do you have any idea what you've just done to them?" Spider-Man asked Roman, his voice now growing in intensity.

The suit wearing thief looked at the wall crawler in confusion as to what he was yammering on about.

"Who?" A fist connected to his face for giving the wrong answer.

The blow was so intense the Huntsman was sent spiraling down to the floor again, only this time his Aura couldn't withstand the force, leaving him with a now broken and bloody nose.

 _What the... he doesn't have a weapon on him, so how can he cause this much damage!?_

Roman was no fool. There are people trained with their fists, but they usually have weapons such as gauntlets or brass knuckles to fight. With Spider-Man, he's just wearing a silly costume. But that last punch he received from the angry hero made him feel like more than a quarter of his Aura was depleted.

"Denny Pesto! A teen who didn't even reach his senior year!" Spider-Man was striding for Roman, not even caring when the criminal used the remainder of his cane to bash the side of Spider-Man's skull. With the help of his spider sense the blonde hero grabbed the cane and used his other hand to push Torchwick away. He then proceeded to snap the cane into tiny pieces.

"How could you forget, you were the one who fired that missile!?" Throwing the chunks of metal to the side, Spider-Man slowly walked to Roman, who was now kneeling. The masked hero crouched to meet the gasping Huntsman's gaze, and asked him in a low threatening manner.

"How could you forget about a young boy you murdered just a few minutes ago?"

Spider-Man didn't get a reply from the man until the crook answered him with a straight upper cut to the wall crawler's chin.

"here! That's my answer, now **shut up**!"

Roman's thought of success for hitting the masked bug was short lived however, when he saw Spider-Man's head unmoving from the punch he delivered. Looking to his fist, Roman's eyes widened at the sight of his now shattered hand with several of his fingers in different angles and pain skyrocketing even higher.

"AAAAHHHHH! My hand? What happened to my hand!?" He asked more to himself then to the silent Spider.

 _I have Aura that protects me, but when I punched him it felt like I was punching solid metal!_

"I'm done letting people like you get away. Tired that I have to roll with the punches, so people like you won't get hurt." Grabbing Roman by his collar, Spider-Man raised him high in the air and was about to punch him when his spider sense started to warn him of a large threat closing in.

 _I don't care! Roman is right in front of me, there's no other threat here!_

"This time Roman, I'm not going to go easy on you. Even if I'll be arrested too it'll all be worth it if you'll be in prison." Spider-Man was already raising his fist to punch the beaten thief one more time, but before he could Roman began to laugh hysterically.

"Careful with the temper, _hero_." Roman managed to speak before he coughed a few specks of blood on Spider-Man's mask. "You can't always expect things to go the way you want it to be."

"You can't fool me! There's no way you can esc- UGH!" Spider-Man's dropped his fist and cradled his now throbbing head as his spider sense was going crazy.

The wall crawler was going to ask Roman what he was doing when he heard the shattering of glass, followed by someone screaming. Turning to the source, he saw Roman's little sidekick wiping away some blood off her parasol next to a now dead piolet no longer flying the bullhead.

"Ah, Neo perfect timing as always." Her boss now wore his signature smirk as help had finally arrived.

"NO!" Letting the killer go, Spider-Man charged at the mute girl, but just like last time she shattered when he contacted her.

He wanted to stop the two of them, but decided to check if the man driving the bullhead was ok. Looking over the Faunus, Spider-Man checked if he still had a pulse.

 _Nothing. He's dead. I was too angry with what happened to Denny that I ignored my spider sense 'because I was too worried about Roman getting away!_

"Well, it's about time we made our exit." Roman told the distraught hero. "Let's see if you can web swing your way out of this." Nodding to Neo, the two criminals collapsed in a heap of glass, leaving only Spider-Man and a now dead body.

The hero now needed to try and land the bullhead somewhere with no people nearby to get harmed. Before he could touch the controls, another Bullhead appeared next to him with Roman now driving it. His spider sense kicked in once more and his body involuntarily moved out of the cock pit before they fired a missile destroying the controls and causing it to nose dive into the kingdom.

With the now burning bullhead diving straight down, Spider-Man forcibly opened the hatch doors and wall crawled outside to see how close he was from crashing. The web slinger saw that Vale's night lights were soon getting brighter with the buildings getting closer and closer. The people on the streets could see the giant ball of fire about to land on top of them.

He could hear the people below start to scream in terror as his mind went into overdrive on how to stop this speeding death trap. Putting all his strength into his legs, he ran to the burning part of the wreckage and used his webbing to suffocate the fire. As the fire was getting smaller, he could see a tall skyscraper in the path of the bullhead and shot web lines on the tall building. He attached them to the end to the bullhead and pulled with all his might to curve the aircraft so it won't hit the populated tower.

"RRAAAHHHH!" With the weight of both pulling the web lines and the heavy bullhead underneath him, tiny tears started to form around his costume due to both forces pulling him in different directions. As the bullhead safely diverted away from the tower, he let the line go and looked down to see the streets closing in.

"Come on, come on, come on!"

Not even taking a second to catch his breath, Spider-Man shot out net after net of webbing in hopes that it could stop the large hunk of metal from plummeting to the ground.

 **TWIP! TWIP! TWIP! TWIP! TWIP! TWIP! TWIP! TWIP! TWIP! TWIP! TWIP! TWIP! TWIP! TWIP! TWIP! TWIP! TWIP! TWIP! TWIP! TWIP! TWIP! TWIP! TWIP! TWIP! TWIP! TWIP! TWIP! TWIP!**

As soon as the broken bullhead hit the first net it broke due to the weight followed by the second and third.

 **PLEASE HOLD!**

As if sensing the spider's distress, the nets soon started to hold on to the large metal bullhead and slow its descent until the webbing held on and suspended it in midair before it could reach street level.

"Thank goodness." The tired superhero wanted to try and stand but his legs didn't respond due to the stress he'd been through the entire night.

"I can't stay here for long; the police will be here any minute." He shook his legs to get them working, but stopped when he heard several voices coming from the streets followed by the sound of clapping.

"Is that Spider-Man?"

"Did you see that? He just saved us!"

"Way to go Spidey!"

"Thank you, Spider-Man!"

"You're the best thing that ever happened to this kingdom! WOOOOO!"

Soon more and more people started to chant his name. His ears were drowning with the sound of clapping and happy voices for the person who saved them all this night.

 _Ok. Maybe just a few more minutes won't hurt._

Waving a hand to the crowd, Spider-Man sat on top of the destroyed vehicle. His body was getting some rest and his mind was at peace for saving the people below. Even though Roman escaped, he could only smile under his mask and wave at the happy people knowing that they were saved once again by their friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

* * *

"You should know better to never run around in a strange city." The man in front of Penny said.

"I know sir." She told him while looking down at the carpet beneath her feet.

After Roman escaped in the bullhead with Spider-Man tailing him, the remaining stragglers surrendered with everyone having minor wounds.

And one death.

It was a hollow victory for everyone. Everything went correctly with many White Fang being arrested, but after seeing what happened to the young Faunus no one could say anything encouraging.

Even Ruby, who was the happiest out of everyone, just stood in the background with her older sister hugging her for comfort. Blake and Weiss were also talking to each other and setting things back on track with the team, but that soon went to silence after that ordeal.

"Sir?" Penny looked back up to see his face.

"Yes, Penny?"

"That boy, the one that saved me. Why did he do it?"

Taking a couple of seconds, the man in front of her put a reassuring hand on her leg and spoke to her in a more comforting tone.

"He saved you because he wanted to do the right thing."

"The right thing?"

"Yes. He saw that you were about to be hurt, so he pushed you away." The man explained.

"But I would be fine, I am a-"

"It doesn't matter." He cut her off. "Even if he knew, he would have done the same regardless of who you are."

For several minutes the girl processed what he said before nodding at his answer. Looking outside the window, she saw as streets, lamp lights, and people passed by while she stayed silent for the remainder of the ride.

Just as the car was turning at a corner, it stopped, causing two of the passengers to lunge out of their seats.

"What's the hold up?" The man asked the driver.

"Webs, sir." The driver replied.

The two looked out their window and saw massive webs tangled over the surrounding buildings with a destroyed bullhead at the center. Vale citizens who were once running in terror began to go near the incident and started to clap and cheer as someone stood atop the wreckage.

"Penny?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Do you know who that man is?" He asked while still looking at the red and blue superhero waving at the crowd.

"He helped us at the docks, I heard from my friend that he is called Spider-Man." She told him.

"And does this 'Spider-Man' know anything about _him_?"

"No, sir. I don't think Spider-Man knows or else he would have arrived and helped."

Seeing the logic from what the girl said, the man pulled out a large thin pad that showed schematics for a new aircraft he has been developing. It was designed to be much faster and stronger than the ones the four kingdoms use now, making it a good edge for Atlas to use against the White Fang and Grimm threats.

Pressing the play button on one of the videos, he saw his creation compete with several others like it with the new prototype winning. This was meant to be the fastest air craft, a machine far superior then all the others, but it was soon humiliated when a small unknown flying object flew right past it and left just as quickly as it entered the video.

Freezing the video frame by frame on parts where it showed up, he modified the image to enhance the quality to see what had bested his machine. In the image it showed not an aerodynamic shape like he thought it would be, but a metal flying man zooming faster than any of his creations combined.

"It seems there could be more of these anomalies, Penny."

"What are your orders, sir." She said in a serious tone.

"Quite simple. Capture them."

* * *

The queen has pawns.

That is the message Qrow emailed to Ozpin's Scroll. Taking a sip from his mug, the headmaster of Beacon looked outside to the quiet night life that was soon turned into a media frenzy after what happened to the docks and the fiery bullhead almost crashing into the city.

Emphasis on the 'almost'.

Switching the live feed from Ruby and her team to the local news, Ozpin saw the people of Vale pointing at several large webs incasing the once downed aircraft with even more people screaming and shouting in joy for who stopped it.

'Local Spider Saves the Day'

That was what the news was saying as the camera focused on the red and blue spider waving to the crowd. Just as the camera were getting a better angle on the hero, the man quickly jumped off the bullhead and swung away from the scene.

"Hmm." Taking another sip from his warm mug, Ozpin typed a few words and sent it to Qrow so he can track down a lead that might be of some use.

Find the Spider.

* * *

"How very disappointing, Roman." The woman in red said while looking at a bruised and battered Roman. Seeing how pathetic he looks she can only give him some sympathy. Some.

"We were expecting... more from you." She said while holding one small jar of Dust to her face.

"Hey, you were the one who suggested to work with those stupid mutts from the White Fang." He waved his broken hand to show what happened. "And what a surprise! They bit the hand that fed them. Looks to me that the White Fang isn't what it's all cracked up to be."

"It is disappointing that some of them decided to turn traitor." She tossed the jar to one of her minions hiding in the shadow. Flexing her pale skinned hand in front of her, small embers began to crackle before turning into a small fire dancing in the palm of her hands. "But you will continue to do so."

Stepping out of the darkness, the woman in front was beautiful in all aspects. From her long-toned legs, to the alluring red dress showing all the right places, and her perfectly shaped face with no imperfections. It was a breath-taking sight, if for just a second you could see fire burning bright with fury in her eyes.

The two behind her were two teenagers. One boy with gray hair wearing solid black pants and with a simple gray jacket. The other a girl with sea foam green hair, tan skin, and tan slacks with a top wrapped with white straps.

"We have big plans for you Roman. All we ask is a little... cooperation."

 _More like being forced to cooperate with you._

"Yeah well, I have big problems that I need to get rid of. Starting with that so called 'hero' Spider-Man." Roman fumed, not even caring if what he looked like a fool in front of her.

"He is beginning to be a problem." The black-haired woman extinguished her flame and placed a hand under her chin. "At first, I thought of him as but a joke, something to be entertained to watch. But what happened at the docks defies all reason with how he was able to turn so many of the White Fang to fight each other."

"Now you see my dilemma. I thought those brats from Beacon were going to cause me most of the trouble, but I was wrong. I'd rather deal with them then have to fight that pajama wearing insect!"

Seeing a small vein popping on the thief's forehead, the fiery woman snapped her fingers to gain the man's attention again.

"No worries. One of my friends has sent me someone who could deal with your bug problem." Hearing faint footsteps behind her, she motioned for Roman to look where the noise was coming from.

"In fact, he used to work for you, Roman. I'm sure you two will work well together since both of you hate the bug so very much."

Stepping closer for Roman to see the mystery person, the thief could only stare slack jawed at who she was referring to. He turned back to her with a confused expression.

"Him?! How will he help me stop Spider-Man!?"

The woman lifted her head and laughed as Roman stepped away from her in fear.

"You're wrong Roman. Our friend here isn't going to stop Spider-Man. No, he is going to **kill** him."

* * *

"What is you desire, my lady?" The young man wearing an all-black suit kneeled in front of a woman sitting on the throne with tattoos on her arms and tiger ears on her head.

To both of her sides stood several of her best guards donning protective armor with the White Fang insignia. The woman on the throne is Sienna Khan, the High Leader of the White Fang, now being called a terrorist organization.

"I have something that needs to be done, Adam." She spoke as she made eye contact. "The other kingdoms already have many Faunus joining us, but the only one showing resistance is the kingdom of Vale."

Pressing a button on her Scroll a large flat screen monitor rolled down to show him several videos of both humans and Faunus burning down the White Fang symbol and lifting another symbol of a spider. This went on for several more minutes before the High Leader turned the screen off. Moving his eyes to meet his leader, Adam bowed his head again and spoke in a calm tone.

"They are delusional that they think they will not go unpunished."

"They are indeed, but it seems why they are so foolish is this so-called hero they call 'Spider-Man' giving them false ideas that the Faunus does not need the White Fang."

This caused Adam to clench the sheath of his weapon tighter, his tone beginning to lose it's cool.

"He thinks he alone can stop us from doing what is right for our people?"

"The people in Vale seems to agree. Everyday more Faunus are turning away from joining the White Fang, making it difficult for us to take root in the kingdom."

Slamming her fist down on her arm rest, Sienna stood up from her chair, walked down the steps, and started to talk to her subordinate with passion and fury.

"That is why I'm sending you, our symbol of the White Fang to go to Vale and show them that we do not need the humans and we, the Faunus, should all join together so we may take back what was taken from us!"

Staying silent once more, Adam Taurus looked up to see the leader of the White Fang extend a hand for him to take.

"And what of the spider?" He asked while taking her hand for the tiger faunas to pull him up from kneeling. "What will happen if I see him?"

"He is doing what I am trying not to have in the White Fang. Complacency. His ways are just like ours before I stepped up to be high leader and look at what happened to us." Turning away from the bull Faunus, Sienna walked back to her throne and sat back down, her face still showing disdain for what this Spider-Man is doing.

"Peace bred complacency and acceptance of our place in the world. I will not stand by and let all our hard work getting to where we are now be stopped by some fool trying to play make believe!"

Hearing a beep from his scroll, Adam pulled it out of his pocket to see a picture of the spider waving at a crowd on top of a crashed bullhead suspended by a dozen spider webs.

"He is but what the old White Fang tried to do and failed. See if you can bring him back alive so I may speak to him."

"And if he refuses and fights us instead?" Adam asked.

"Kill him, so we may show the world that we are done playing nice. This time, we push back."

* * *

 **There you go! The day was saved, but at a cost of someone Jaune wanted to save the most. Even though he couldn't stop Roman he was still happy that no one else got hurt, but now that the docks are secure and he saved the people of Vale more people are now paying more attention at the web slinger. For both the good and the bad reasons.**

 **One group from Atlas wants to capture and question him, Ozpin telling Qrow that finding Spider-Man might help with their mission, Roman getting another alley to destroy their pest problem, and finally the White Fang thinking that this Spider-Man is a threat to their new movement and sent their best to kill him.**

 **All of these problems centered at the Spider, but he still feels he will be fine knowing that people in the Kingdom of Vale is safe from harm. With most of the Faunus now even more dead set on not joining the White Fang it seems that Jaune is becoming more and more of a celebrity.**

 **Some of you might think that he should not be able to do those amazing feats, but many people always thinks that Spider-Man is not all that string until you really make him angry. Like in all of his comics Spider-Man always had to hold back due to his strength because he does not to hurt them to badly or worse. Another big thing about him is that he is still young and when he gets older he will be much stringer, I would even like to think that he is by far the strongest.**

 **I know this chapter is a bit late, but with this chapter done my friend also helped fixing my first chapter, so instead of just one we give you all two chapters to read! Chapter 1 is fixed and more readable, as well as the latest chapter of Jaune's adventure.**

 **Hope you guys like this chapter and I hope you like this chapter so please comment, and fav to keep track on another update. Hope you all have a happy Christmas or any other holiday you celebrate.**

 **Like always my Beta Reader is: The Maestro of Madness!**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 Great Day

 **I'm so sorry that this chapter is released a bit late. My power was out for this entire weekend and I had to handle some personal business. Hopefully it won't happen again, but life always finds a way to make set backs. Thank you and enjoy this new chapter.**

* * *

"Here you go, Mrs. Julian." Jaune handed a small bag of Dust to a cat Faunus. "Please come back next time." He said in his usual friendly manner.

"Thank you, Jaune I reall- Hey!" Mrs. Julian shouted at her eldest daughter holding a fragile jar of Dust. "Put that down and help me with your brother." Shifting her left arm to hand over her most recent baby to her eldest daughter. The Faunus mom was about to grab her things when the young blonde desk clerk grabbed it himself.

"I'll walk you to your car, if you're ok with that."

"My, my." Mrs. Julian hoisted her baby son higher in to her arms. "Always the perfect gentleman."

"My mom raised me right, ma'am. That and several of my sisters." Jaune smiled at her making the mother of two laugh.

 _They always think I'm joking when I say I have seven sisters, but I guess they would also think I'm joking if I straight up told them I'm Spider-Man._

Opening the front door for the mother, Jaune walked Mrs. Julian to her car parked close to the sidewalk just a few feet away from the store and placed the bags in the trunk while she placed her kids safely in the back of the car.

"Thank you so much, Jaune." The cat mom said to the young worker while fishing a few lien out of her purse to give to him.

Just as she finally grabbed the tip for Jaune the blonde hero put a hand over the lien and pushed it back to her.

"You don't have to do that, we don't accept tips." He said to her. "Besides, I wanted to help you because I wanted too, not for the extra cash."

"I know, I know, that's why I want to give this to you." The mother of two still insisted on giving the extra lien to Jaune. "You've been so good to not just me, but to every local here that I just wanted to give this to you as thanks."

Seeing that the mother was persistent on doing this good deed the secret hero accepted and gave her his thanks. Putting the tip he was given in the back of his back pocket; the young hero was about to ask how her day went when Mrs. Julian's Scroll rang from the inside of her purse.

"Excuse me." Taking the Scroll out she pressed the call button and talked to the other person on the other end.

"Hello? Oh hi dear! Yes, we just got the Dust and I'm about to leave to go back home to start dinner. You won't make it?" The face of the mother Faunus showed that she was disappointed at what she heard. For several seconds of silence the mother nodded her head as she listened to her husband then said a quick goodbye and hung up her Scroll. Putting back the scroll, Mrs. Julian looked back at the confused teen and explained to him about who she was talking to.

"Sorry, that was my husband." She told the young teen.

"Is he still at the station?"

"Yes, with all the Faunus who joined the White Fang turning themselves in he's been living at his desk rather than at home for some time now."

"Still?" Jaune asked in surprise.

The battle at the docks ended a few weeks ago with dozens of members either surrendering to the cops or being arrested, but many people still wonder when the next Dust shop will be attacked by the White Fang even with so many put in jail. Within those weeks not a single call was made about any robberies involving Dust or the White Fang with many people now assuming who was responsible.

Spider-Man.

It was now a common occurrence for many people who live in Vale to always assume that any crime that's taking place within the kingdom the web slinger will be there to catch them in the act. Because of this notion many Faunus who were able to escape from the docks decided to turn themselves in believing that one way or another they'll eventually be caught by Spider-Man.

 _Now that I think about it, even before I try to web them up I just have to show myself to them and the crooks immediately give up._

With so much happening with the docks, making the White Fang surrender, and stopping the crashing bullhead, the news became Spider-Man watch 24/7 with cameras trying to catch the young Spider in the act of his heroism. It became even worse when people who aren't even working for the news are trying to get recordings and photos of him web swinging, so they can sell it to anyone who wants them.

 _Thanks to my spider sense I know where they'll try and take a photo of me making it easier for me to take a different route whenever I do my patrol around the city. Can't have everyone take photos of me, otherwise I won't be able to sell it to the Bugle._

Within those weeks Jaune finally had enough to purchase another camera for him to start his main revenue of income. The camera was still able to put a large void in his spending lien, making him extra carful on what he needs in case of emergencies.

 _I need to start getting some good photos of me stopping something newsworthy. Simple robberies and stopping purse snatchers isn't giving me enough lien anymore. Wait, is she still talking?_

"I really shouldn't complain." Mrs. Julian said making Jaune shake himself out of his thoughts. "I mean, Vale is starting to become safe now. So safe that I don't have to worry about my kids growing up in a crime filled kingdom."

 _Safe, protected, I wish Denny felt that way before he was pressured in to joining that dangerous group._

It was still fresh in Jaune's head whenever he was by himself. How Denny died on his watch, how crushed and hopeless at the funeral the Pesto's felt when they had to see their child be buried, but what really made it all the worst was what Denny's final words he said to him before he passed away.

 _Thank you. He said thank you to me. Me. The guy that barley talked to him at school, the guy he doesn't even know behind the mask. The only one who should be given thanks is the person who decided to pay for Denny's funeral._

The pesto's couldn't afford a funeral for their son due to so much crime affecting business making job openings sparse and few. They would've been in some serious debt if not for some generous person who wished to be unknown give them lien to cover their son's funeral and enough for them to pay off bills for the next year.

"I'm sure he must also feel that way to." The young spider said.

"Yup, especially with so many Faunus deciding not to join the White Fang. Now, humans and Faunus in Vale are starting to get along much better than most other kingdoms making Vale quite popular for more people to live in."

"Really? I'm not sure change can happen that quickly."

"You're right on how change can't be that fast, but it's starting to show more prominent, especially with the younger generation."

"Younger generation?" He said in confusion.

"You know, teens like you and in schools. They're becoming more and more tolerant and understanding with each other that I have no doubt that in a couple of years Vale will probably be the kingdom that could very well have true peace between our species." She explained.

"And it's all thanks to… to… drat! What was this person's name again?" She asked aloud. Jaune was going to say his alter ego's name when he heard a young voice speak up in the car.

"Spoder-Man!" The baby said while waving his stubby arms and laughing.

 _Eh. Close enough._

"That's right!" The mother said while showing kissy faces to her baby. "It's Spider-Man! You're so smart, my little baby boy!"

After making the boy laugh even more the cat mom looked back to see Jaune smiling at the display of parenting before speaking to her.

"Was that his first word?"

"Unfortunately. My husband and I were wondering if he would say 'mama' or 'papa', but when he saw the spider Faunus on TV he immediately started to wave his arms around and speak his name over and over again."

"What does your husband think about that?" Jaune asked automatically before yelling inside his head for asking such a stupid question.

 _Idiot! You know what the answer is. After all, the police are now more intense on trying to arrest me then congratulate me._

"My husband and most other cops think about how it's unfair that the council wants to send him in prison." Mrs. Julian told him while walking to the front of her car.

"So he also thinks that Spider-Man's doing well?" Jaune said with hope in his voice that the authorities will stop chasing him.

"Yes and no." She said making the hero even more confused. "Yes: that the council is making Spider-Man out to be a criminal. No: that Spider-Man shouldn't remain free."

 _Come on! You're sending me mixed messages here._

"I don't understand."

"Well, he's doing a great job and he's also making the kingdom of Vale a better place. But since we have police and Huntsmen doing those same things too can cause some problems."

"You mean, that thanks to Spider-Man many people are now relying on him to save the people whenever there in trouble and not them?" Jaune said the got a nod from Mrs. Julian for getting it right.

"He's just one man in a vast kingdom. Yet people paint him as some invulnerable hero that can do anything. My husband just thinks, as well as some of his friends in the force, that Spider-Man needs to slow down before he might get himself in to trouble where no one might not be able to help."

"I see." Jaune said while staying silent for the mother to start the engine of her car. "Thank you for telling me your thoughts about him."

"Any time, Jaune." Just as the young hero was about to go back to work he heard his name being called making him turn around to see Mrs. Julian stick her head out the window.

"I know that it might not have been the answer you've been hoping for. But you can't always listen to one person giving you answers. Spider-Man gave people something they never thought they could get anywhere in the four kingdoms. Hope. And for that, we'll always be thankful to him." With her final words spoken, the Faunus mother drove off leaving Jaune to his thoughts about what she said and how his work was affecting Vale.

 _Hope. It might not be what I was expecting, but I can live with that._

Lifting his head a little bit higher, Jaune went back to his regular day at working his shift at Mr. Macarren's Dust shop until around midafternoon leaving him the rest of the day to himself.

"See you around, Boss." Jaune said to his employer while waving good bye.

"Have a nice day, Jaune." Mr. Macarren said followed by several other co-workers stacking Dust on shelves.

"See ya'll next time." The blonde spider waved goodbye to everyone one else who was still working.

"Bye, Jaune." Amy, a freshman from Midtown High school said while restocking Dust.

"Take care, kid." Harvey, one of the regulars who come by often now working as cashier waved his hand then went back to counting today's lien.

"Be safe walking home, Mr. Arc." Said Joe, a dog Faunus working as Mr. Macarren's security guard whose attention was still reading todays newspaper about recent events involving crime and sightings of the friendly neighborhood hero.

With Mr. Macarren's business back up and running, he started to let more people work for him including some added security just in case another burglary might happen. Jaune knew that he would always stop whatever idiot who tries to steal from this place if the problem arises, but the added help could be more useful. Especially if he was caught up in a bigger mess that needed his full attention.

"Wait, Jaune, before you go what are your thoughts on what me and Amy did to the front window?" Jaune's boss asked making him stop and turn his head to see what they made.

In front of the window had a huge stack of dust with the colors of red, blue, and black stacked in a complex shape all too familiar to Jaune.

"Is that... did you guys make Spider-Man with the Dust?" Jaune asked them in astonishment at how detailed they put in the time to make it look just like his costume. "Why did you put this on the display window?"

"Well, with how popular he's becoming, not to mention how he helped save my life, I thought that making this will show how we appreciate him." Mr. Macarren said with some pride in his voice at how well his little project looks.

"Not to mention we have to make the shop stand out more!" Amy told them while typing something on her scroll. "Look at this!"

Showing the pictures on her scroll, Jaune and his boss saw several stores put different displays of the web slinger on posters, food, and toys with many people lining outside of said stores to get their hands on the merchandise.

 _Can I sue so I can get most of the profit? Then again that'd be embarrassing to be arrested that easily._

"Must be nice to sell all that stuff and not get sued without Spider-Man's consent." Jaune said reluctantly.

"Can't be helped. Spider-Man's become some sort of celebrity in Vale, even more popular than most celebrities and politicians." Mr. Macarren told his blonde employee.

"Yup! Ever since the Faunus turned away from the White Fang and saving dozens of people from a burning bullhead Spider-Man has become a part of pop culture!" To show what she meant, the pink haired freshmen showed a silver necklace with a small silver circle with Spider-Man's symbol.

 _How is it that when I'm just myself no one seems to notice me rather than when I'm Spider-Man most of the time? Hold on, I think I just answered my own question._

"Well, if I ever walk across a store selling some Spider-Man themed food I'll make sure to come back and show you guys. Take care, ya'll." Waving one more goodbye Jaune stepped out of the store and started to walk back home.

Not ten minutes later did he see stores showing tons of memorabilia of him being Spider-Man to the public with people buying anything that was spider related.

One of the stores Jaune passed was a bakery selling Spider-Man birthday cakes to a long line of parents trying to get one for their kids before they run out. Another was a toy store with an even bigger line with screaming children crying and begging their parents to buy their very own Spider-Man action figure.

Walking even further down the street Jaune came across a restaurant with live entertainment with the caterers giving even more Spider-Man themed food to the people while the performer was playing a violin and singing about the blonde hero's adventures as the web hero.

"Spider-Man~~ Spider-Man~~~ Does whatever a Spider can~~~~" She sang her tune with some of the patrons putting extra lien in the tip jar next to her.

 _Man, I became so popular they even made my very own hero theme song! It's so weird that they're praising me without even knowing I'm here. Then again, it'd be an inconvenience if people started to know my identity and follow me where ever I go._

He also knew that with so many people loving his hero alter ego, they're also people who want him dead. One of them being Roman who is currently in hiding. Just like with the White Fang and their members being caught, some of Roman's men were among them. Some decided to help the police bust Roman's secret hideouts if it meant less jail time.

With so many shops selling everything Spider-Man the blonde hero decided that he should try and buy some Spider-Man stuff, even if they're selling his superhero identity at a high price.

 _WHOOO! Maybe they decided to try an X-Ray and Vav/Spider-Man comic book series! I know there's a book store Aunt May always goes to whenever she wanted to buy another cook book. ah-ha!_

"There you are!" Jaune said standing in front of a book store. "Tukson's book trade, what's this?"

Looking at the small sign on the display window Jaune read it out loud to make sure he was reading it correctly.

"Home to every book under the sun... Buy one get one free!" Jaune said with excitement.

 _I can get a comic book and a cook book for Aunt May to use! I just need to limit the amount of lien I can spend._

Looking back at the sign one more time, Jaune entered the establishment to see dozens of books lined on the shelves and tables, giving the impression that the sign didn't lie.

Walking closer to the front counter Jaune rung the reception bell to inform a customer has arrived. After he signaled his arrival a tall male with black hair wearing simple slacks and a sweater came out of the back of the store holding large boxes. Moving his head to see who was at the front desk the owner set aside the boxes and greeted Jaune with a friendly smile.

"Welcome to Tukson's book store! Home to every book under the sun!" He said while wiping away the dirt off his hand with his pants. "Anything here that's to your liking?"

Looking around the store to see what type of books were out for the public, Jaune looked back at the owner and asked him a question. "Yeah, um, I looked at your sign that says, 'buy one get one free'. Do you have some cook books you recommend? I'm trying to get one Aunt May doesn't have."

"Aunt May?" The book owner's eyes widen at who Jaune was talking about. "May Parker? You must be the young teen who's renting out one of her rooms. She told me so much about you!"

"Really? I didn't know that she would talk about me that much." Jaune rubbed the back of his head from embarrassment.

"Sure did! A nice woman, heart of gold she has. Mrs. Parker comes by and visits now and then talking about some young kid helping her around the house. She said she was real thankful for how helpful he is. Oh! The names Tukson by the way, if the big sign outside didn't tell you the obvious." Tukson said then extended his hand to the blonde teen.

"Jaune. Jaune Arc, nice to meet you." Taking the hand in front of him the hero shook it then pulled away. "So do you have anything that Aunt May had her eyes on a while back? I want to get it for her."

Placing his hand under his chin to think, Tukson snapped his fingers and pointed his thumb at the back of the shop.

"I got some in the back, just hold on for a moment." Leaving Jaune at the front, the book owner rummaged through the items he had in the back of his store and returned holding a plastic wrapped cook book. "Got these last week. It holds new recipes from Vacuo, including some Spider-Man themed ones too." He said then handed it to Jaune.

"Thanks. Can't believe how much Spider-Man stuff people are now selling. I remember he was just an afterthought people saw on video clips. Now though, people can't stop talking about him."

"Well, you can't blame them. Spider-Man's been doing one heck of a job cleaning up Vale." Tukson pulled out a newspaper from under his desk to show Jaune. "The news is now trying to get him to make a statement on why he's doing this. Fat chance they'll get him on the show, it's as if he knows when they'll try to get him on camera."

 _Thank you, spider sense!_

"Well, he just wants to help people. Not all of the fame and glamor stuff." Jaune told the book store owner.

"Yeah, he just wants to help people." Tukson said with a thoughtful gaze. "I was one of the few people who saw him up close actually." He said made Jaune stare at him with alarm.

"Really? How did you meet him?" Jaune asked with a bit of skepticism.

"I was with a group of friends of mine that was about to fight some people we didn't see eye to eye with." The man then narrowed his eyes when he saw one article with pictures of the White Fang. "We were stupid and just wanted to vent out our frustrations. Me and my friends were about to do something really stupid until Spider-Man showed up."

"What'd he do?" Jaune asked Tukson what he did when he was Spider-Man.

"He didn't fight us or force us to give up. The guy just wanted us to stop and told us to take responsibility."

"Did you?" Jaune whispered.

"Yeah, some of us did while others didn't. Some of the people who did had families of their own and they didn't want their loved ones to worry. I was on the latter and when more people arrived I ran away." The book manager said in bitterness.

"I'm sure he would understand why you ran away. It was probably too much for most people." Jaune told the book manager. "I mean, at least the police and Huntsmen are also trying to help to-"

"HA!" Tukson laughed making Jaune jump in surprise. "Sorry, but they can't do Jack even before the web head showed up."

"What do you mean? Don't the police and Huntsmen keep the peace in Vale?"

"They try to bring the peace, but the people don't trust most of the police since some are corrupt. Not to mention that Huntsmen aren't really helpful besides causing even more trouble."

"I still don't understand, Tukson. Huntsmen help the people all the time."

 _That's why Ruby wanted to become a Huntress. To be a hero and help people in need._

"They stop the Grimm from over running the Kingdom. Besides the kingdom they also keep villages safe if they get paid. People may think Huntsmen are heroes, but it's just a job and nothing else." Jaune flinched at the bluntness of the book store owner.

 _Ouch. I never knew some people thought about Huntsmen like that._

Since he was born in a family with most being Huntsmen he always thought they were heroes who saved people from all sorts of danger, but hearing it now made him realize how naïve he was as a kid.

"But enough about that!" Tukson's voice went back to its friendly tone. "Is there any other book you had in mind? Remember, buy one get one free."

Seeing as Jaune wasn't going to change Tukson's view point on Huntsmen the blonde teen asked him if sells any X-ray and Vav.

"Sure, there at the font, but just wait right here." Going to the back of the store the owner came back with a fresh comic book that was also wrapped in plastic. "Fresh comic for you and since you get one for free the total will be around fifteen lien."

"Here you go." Handing him the amount purchased the dark-haired manager placed the books in a bag and handed it to his customer. "Thank you. Have a nice day."

"You too, Jaune. And tell your Aunt I said hi!"

"Will do!" Jaune said then left the store.

 _Can't believe Aunt May would talk so highly of me. Aunt May really is a kind woman to think of me that way. I really shoul-_

"Whoops!" The blonde teen maneuvered out of the way just before he could collide with another teen with sea foam green hair walking alongside her friend. "Sorry about that, I almost bumped in to you."

Looking surprised at the blonde teen for apologizing, the girl with green hair shook her head and gave of her hand a wave to show that she doesn't care.

"It's ok. I'm just glad that one of us moved out of the way." She said in relief.

"Yeah, me too. Have a nice day." After the short talk, Jaune walked past the two and began his regular pace when he was stopped by the green haired girl's friend.

"Hey, do you know if anyone else is at that book store?" The guy with grey hair asked. "Me and my friend have some important places to go and we just don't want to deal with waiting in line."

"I was the only one. Mr. Tukson's having a sale of buy on get one free."

Both teens looked at each other for a second at what Jaune told them before they gave their thanks and walked inside the books store. The young spider was about to go do his usual business when the back of his skull started to tingle making Jaune go on high alert at what danger is nearby.

 _I'm guessing those two aren't the run-of-the-mill teenagers._

Turning his back at the book store he saw the two enter Tukson's establishment lock the front door so no one else could enter.

 _Aunt May will have to wait for her new recipes from Vacuo. I need to make sure those two don't make the perfect recipe for murder!_

* * *

"YES!" Tukson shouted at the two trespassers as he jumped on top of his front counter with his claws extended and pounced at the green haired girl.

As soon has his claws could pierce her face she vanished making the Faunus looked surprised that his intended target was gone.

"Huh?" Was the only thing Tukson said before the grey-haired boy came in to view with a single boot in the air, and connected his black boot to the store owner's face followed by a flash of light.

 **TWIP!**

And just in the nick of time a long thread attached itself to Tukson's back and pulled him out of harm's way as the grey-haired teen's boot ejected a single Dust round intended to kill the Faunus.

"Gotcha!" The web hero shouted as he caught the man in both of his hands. "You ok?"

"Spider-Man? Why are you here?" Tukson asked more in surprise that he would see the hero again so soon rather than thanking him for saving his life.

"I saw the sign at the window and I just had to buy one of my families best-selling book: Charlette's Web."

Seeing as the man was safe, Spider-Man looked at the two would-be killers, both acting nonchalantly at the fact that they almost killed a man making the him worry if they've done this before.

"Get out of here." Spider-Man told Tukson. "You need to get out of here and call for help. I'll try and hold them off. Don't worry, I'll make sure they don't wreck your store."

"Got it. But be careful with these brats." Tukson glared at the dark-skinned girl who was whispering something to her partner in crime. "Especially that chick, she has a Semblance that can trick your eyes."

"Thanks for the tip, now get going." The adult Faunus gave a nod to his rescuer and left the store from the back door leaving the hooded spider to fight off the two criminals.

"Ok you two, why'd you guys want to kill such a nice man? He has a 'buy one get one free' deal for Pete's sake! That should give him a good reason to live!" Spider-Man said with his usual upbeat tone.

"Man, it really is true." The girl with green hair pulled out two pistols. "You talk too much."

"Talking is one of my best qualities!" The wall crawler let out a loud gasp to show he was offended.

 _It also helps me hide how scared I am when I get into fights._

"That so," The suave male teen shoved both of his hands in his pockets and tapped the tip of his boot on the floor. "Then let's hope your other qualities can help you survive."

 _Get down!_

In an instant, the web slinger crouched low when a black boot almost collided with his head then back flipped to dodge another kick.

Landing a safe distance the spider shot two web lines past the grey-haired boy that stuck themselves on the large desk, and with a powerful pull the desk went airborne directly at the attacker.

With the desk only a few inches away from the target the boy's shoes ignited a large flash making the grey-haired thug jump high enough to dodge the large desk. Shifting his body while in the air he kicked his leg making several Dust rounds eject from the sole of his shoes hitting the desk and splitting it in two.

Dodging pieces of the shattered desk, Spider-Man made a T shape with his hands to signal a time out.

"Woah, woah, woah! You have gun boots!? Forget about regular cops, I need to call for the fashion police!"

"There usually isn't this much talking." The teen said while hopping back and forth on his heels.

"Sorry, next time I'll be sur-" Spider-Man cut off his talking and shot a web string at the girl with green hair who was about to fire her gun at the distracted hero. "Can't let you do that, Greenie!"

Tugging his web back the girl's gun was ripped away from her hand and flung across the room. Spider-Man was about to get the other gun she was holding, but moved his head when a solid black boot passed just a few centimeters from his mask. When the boot passed him, Spider-Man grabbed it and used his clinging ability to hold on like a vice to put the criminal in a compromising position.

"I'd hate to be the guy sitting in front of you in a plane ride." Spider-Man dodged another kick aimed at his head. Just as the kick sailed past him the hero grabbed the other leg, used the momentum to spin around, and flung his opponent to hit the other intruder making them both fall to the ground.

"I think that this is the part where you both realize that you guys are in over your heads." Spider-Man said while wiping both his hands together.

Springing back on their feet the two teens whispered to each other before nodded at whatever plan they cobbled together. Taking off in different directions, Spider-Man thought that they would try and attack him on both sides. Instead, the green haired girl made a break for it and dashed to the front door while her partner-in-crime ran to the back door.

"Oh no you don't!" Extending his arms out to his sides the young spider shot web lines to stop the two from escaping with the boy being stopped while the other web string phasing right through the female killer.

 _An Illusion!_

When Spider-Man realized that the girl used her Semblance the blonde spider took a side step to the right when a long-curved blade appeared out of thin air. With her surprise attack failed she decided to cut the string that was holding her friend and started to shoot at the hero, so her friend had enough time to escape.

Evading each shot with ease, Spider-Man advanced with each bullet dodged until he was able to reach out and grab the girl's wrists to stop her from shooting. When his fingertips soon touched skin the girl immediately vanished making the hero step back at how he was tricked again.

 _Of course! No wonder my spider sense didn't go off after I reached her. But where did she go?_

Hearing the front door open the blonde spider turned his head to see the green haired girl leave through the front door, but not before she turned her head to stick her tongue out to show the hero.

"Hey! I already have my hands full with one illusionist! I don't need another to fight, thank you very much!" Using the back door so no civilian would spot him the spider hero web lined to the roof to get a birds eye view on where she was going.

"There she is!" Spider-Man spotted the girl taking a turn into an alleyway several yards away. "Bet her friend's there waiting for her too."

Jumping from rooftop to rooftop, Spider-Man reached the location of the two culprits landed in a crouch and spotted his two runaways who were about to hide themselves within a busy side walk.

"You're not going anywhere!" He screamed before shooting web strings to ensnare them.

Spider-Man's webs were only half way there when a large wall of sand blocked the sticky strings making Spider-Man's eye widen behind his mask.

 _Sand!? Is this some sort Semblance the guy with the killer shoes has?_

The wall of sand soon shifted to become a tall man wearing a long sleeved green stripped shirt and khaki pants. The idea of sand being a Semblance from the grey-haired teen was thrown out the window when Spider-Man saw it turn into a full grown man, making the wall crawler get ready for another opponent to fight.

"Excuse me, sir. Are you their guardian? If so, then I really need to tell you that they've been caught with the attempt of murder." He said to the silent man.

"Listen buddy, I'm not sure if you heard or seen what's going on around Vale," Spider-Man shot another pair of web strings to the alleyway walls and catapulted himself to fight the sand user. "But I'm the sheriff around these parts!"

Seeing that the hero was throwing himself the new thug tried to land a punch but missed giving Spider-Man an opening to attack his midsection. Cocking his fist back the hero punched the man's stomach only for it to go right through the man.

 _What!? Spider sense is going off like crazy! I need to get away from this guy!_

"NNHHGG!" Spider-Man tried to pull his fist out of the tough sand but to no avail.

Now stuck the man's hand changed into a large hammer and struck Spider-Man so hard it launched him several feet away and hit a wall. As the hero was stunned from the fierce blow the thug wasted no time in closing the distance. Shifting into a wave of sand he encased the hero then morphed himself into a giant hand and threw him high in the air.

Now airborne, Spider-Man ejected a strand of webbing to a nearby rooftop and pulled himself away to safety.

"Ok, that was unexpected." He said while putting his hands on the back of his head for a short breather. "Well, I did need to get pictures of something new. Man, me and my big mouth."

Unhooking the camera from his waist he webbed the camera to a flag pole to capture him fighting the sand villain. Just as he set the camera up Spider-Man felt the back of his skull tingle. He took several back flips away when a large heap of sand crashed down on his original position.

The large load of sand turned back into human form with both of his arms morphed into hammers ready to smash the spider into a pancake. Moving his body instinctively, Spider-Man dodged each strike while at the same time trying to trap the enemy in webs. But just like his punch the web lines went right through the man making it even more difficult for the spider to trap him.

 _Great! How am I going to hit him when he can just change at will!?_

"You had enough, Bug!?" The man spoke to the hero before his lower half turned into sand that propelled him forward.

"Oh now you start talking to me! And here I thought you had sand in your ears!" Spidey said while trying to evade tendrils of sand in every direction.

As Spider-Man evaded each strike the bad guy grew more frustrated making form together in a giant wave of sand and slammed the wall crawler like it was squashing an insect. With the hero now pinned the sand went back to its original form with the man's lower half still holding on to the hero in a tight grip.

"You don't remember me?" The stranger said while tightening his grip on the hero. "The man you sent to jail!? The man you humiliated?!"

"Sorry, but I kinda humiliate dozens of criminals, so you're gonna have to refresh my memory." Spider-Man said sarcastically while trying to find a way out of the sand trap.

"It's me! Flint Marko, I was part of Roman's gang! The gang you ruined by sending most of us to jail!" Marko screamed at the perplexed hero.

Stopping for a moment, the hero could only move his head to the side to show that he still doesn't remember him.

"Seriously!? How am I supposed to know? It doesn't help that you dressed the same as the rest of Roman's stooges!" Was the only thing Spider-Man said before his face was punched by a giant fist sending him straight off the roof and down to ground level.

* * *

"Please, take my wallet, just don't hurt me." An innocent bystander whimpered as he gave his wallet to his captor.

The gun wielding thug was about to grab his victim's wallet when something large crashed in a heap of trash making the wallet snatcher get distracted. Before he could register what fell the thief was soon encased in a large web net that attached him to the brick wall.

"Don't steal from people." Spider-Man groaned as he brushed off pieces of garbage from him. "You might want to run." He told the random man he saved from being mugged.

Nodding nervously the man got the message and ran from whatever Spider-Man was fighting. Getting back on his feet the web slinger shook off his fatigue and web lined his way back up to the roof to start fighting again only for him to see that the sand controller gone with no trace of him.

"Great now where did he go!?" Running to where he last saw those two teens the blonde spider looked down to see that they were also gone leaving him alone on the roof.

"Fantastic." He said then shot a web line to retrieve his camera. "Now I need to add three new problems on my list of ever growing bad guys."

 _Especially that sand guy. I've never seen someone that can turn themselves in to sand. My webs and fists passed right through him. How am I going to fight him when I can't even touch him? Uh-oh._

"THERE HE IS!" A female voice made the web head turn to see who spotted him. Looking up he saw a female reporter sticking her head out of a news chopper with a camera man recording his every movement.

"SPIDER-MAN! WE JUST WANT TO ASK YOU A FEW QUESTIONS REGARDING YOUR STAY IN VALE!" She said using a bullhorn to amplify her voice.

"Sorry!" Spider-Man apologized while web swinging away from the reporter. "But I don't do interviews!"

 _Just as soon as I lose the paparazzi!_

* * *

"I never realized that fighting a living sand monster would be this messy." Jaune grumbled as he lifted his shirt to let sand particles fall to the cement ground.

After escaping the news chopper by hiding under a highway bridge the hero back tracked to change his costume to his civilian gear and quickly walked back home.

 _I smell horrible, have sand in places I need to clean, and I spent most of the day running away from the news! And I got the wrong comic book!_

Sighing in frustration, Jaune could only look at Aunt May's house with tired eyes as he was just about a few feet away from the door.

 _At least there isn't any more surprises._

"I'm home~" Jaune said to signal his arrival. "Aunt May? You home?" He asked trying to find his landlady.

"In the kitchen, Jaune." She told him. "One of your friends are here to say hi." Aunt May sounded way to happy for some reason.

 _Weird. Harry should be home by now, other than him I don't have any other friends at school._

Walking to the kitchen to see what guest is visiting he could only stand frozen as a pair of yellow eyes stared right at him.

"Jaune." Mrs. Parker smiled when she saw her tenant enter the kitchen. "Ms. Belladonna came by to talk to you." She said in pleased tone.

"Uuhhh." Jaune said while pointing a shaking finger to the black-haired girl then to himself.

Rolling eyes her at how dumbstruck Jaune was the lady of the house gave Blake an apologetic stare for Jaune's behavior.

"Sorry, dear." She apologized to the bow wearing girl. "Jaune doesn't get much visitors, especially the female kind."

"Aunt May!" Jaune finally spoke while his face turned red. "Can we please talk in the living room. Just the two of us. Please."

"Of course, Jaune." The blonde-haired woman then places a hand on Blake shoulder. "Seems Jaune's a bit shy when pretty girls are here."

"Aunt May!" He shrieked from the living room.

"Coming, Jaune. We'll be right back, Ms. Belladonna." She said then walked to the living room to see Jaune nervously pace back and forth in the middle of the room.

"Jaune! Why didn't you tell me you knew a girl as cute as her!" She squealed not even caring if Blake could hear from the other room.

"Aunt May, that girl isn't from my school." Jaune whispered then used his hands to show Aunt May to lower her voice.

"She's not?" She asked.

"No, that girl, Blake, goes to Beacon Academy. She's a Huntress-in-training." Jaune told her making Aunt May gasp in surprise.

"Oh my!" She said. "Jaune... you are a very lucky boy!" She screamed in happiness.

 ** _WHAT!?_**

"What?!" Jaune asked slack jawed at what she's implying.

"A girl like her is a keeper, Jaune." Aunt May said seriously making Jaune wonder if talking to her will be just as useless as trying to tell her he's Spider-Man. "You better make sure to treat her right after you both graduate."

 _Is she now thinking about me and Blake going steady?!_

"Aunt May, we just met months ago." He tried to reason with her.

"Then you better make sure to grab her attention before another man does." The mature blonde then placed a hand over her mouth. "Oh my! I should get you some cologne Ben used to wear whenever him and I go out!"

 _Oh please no!_

Before she could leave to her room the younger blonde grabbed both her shoulders to stop her from embarrassing him anymore.

"Don't worry about the cologne." Jaune said. "I'll just talk to her and you just wait here, ok?"

"Are you sure, Jaune?" Aunt May sniffed the air around her then scrunched her face. "Because you smell like you just took a bath in garbage."

 _Don't remind me. Forget soap and water, I'll be rubbing my skin with bleach for a week to get this smell off me!_

"Just wait here and I'll talk to her."

"Ok." She conceded.

"Thank you." Jaune said then gave Aunt May a peck on the cheek.

Leaving the living room to talk to his guest, Jaune saw Blake still in her chair waiting for him to enter while her cheeks showed how much she heard from the other room.

"She certainly speaks out her mind." Blake said coolly. "Reminds me of my partner, Yang."

"Yeah." The blonde boy rubbed the back of his head. "She gets that way sometimes."

"I see." The black-haired girl said before the kitchen descended into silence.

"Are you the only one here? Is the rest of your team coming over?" He asked.

"No, just me." She answered.

 _Guess she's back to being a loner._

"Does your team know where you are at least?"

"Yes, I told them where I am." Her lips curved upwards. "Ruby also wanted to join me, but she had to deal with some extra paperwork for class."

"Oh... ok."

"Yeah." Blake spoke before falling silent too.

For several seconds both teens didn't speak leaving the kitchen clock to fill in the absent noise. Collecting all his courage to speak again, Jaune decided to ask why she wanted to meet him at his house.

"So... what brings you here?" Jaune asked her while leaning on the kitchen wall.

Seeing as Jaune was cutting straight to the chase the Huntress reached in her pocket and placed a fat envelope on the kitchen table.

"I'm just here to give this to you." She told him.

With the small package on the table the blonde teen walked to the kitchen table, took the envelope, opened it, then immediately pushed it back to the long-haired girl.

"I can't accept this." He told her with no hint of backing down. "I don't know why you would even think I would accept this."

In the envelope was a large amount of Lien that could easily cover some of the bills Aunt May had trouble paying off. With paying for a replacement camera, more thread to fix his costumes, and taking care of last moths bills Jaune needed to go to the Bugle after school tomorrow in hopes that the pictures he taken today would help Aunt May keep the house.

 _I may be desperate, but not that desperate. I just need to ask Mr. Macarren for longer hours or ask J.J for a raise._

"I know that it seems out of the blue, but please understand that this is a thank you for you and your friend."

"My friend?" He asked her before his eyes widened at what she meant. "Oh. You mean my partner that helps me with my photos."

"Yes." Blake looked over her shoulder to make sure Aunt May wasn't listening. "Does your Aunt know about how you get your pictures?"

"No. And I'd like to keep that way." Jaune's face soon turned serious as thoughts of what might happen if Aunt May got caught in his problems. "I still can't accept this."

"Fine. Just give it to your friend, you said he also has some financial troubles too." Blake told him then pushed to envelope back to him.

 _Spider-Man would also say no! Wait, I'm Spider-Man and I still say no!_

"He doesn't want money for helping people." Jaune pushed the letter away.

"This isn't about helping people, it's about helping you and him now take it!" She pushed it back.

"We don't need it!" He pushed.

"Who says you can decide what he thinks!" She pushed back.

"Why are you so determined to give this to us!"

"Because I want to apologize to you!" Blake shot out of her chair and screamed making her only audience stay silent.

Taking a couple of deep breaths, Blake sat back down and spoke in a gentler tone.

"I wanted to give this to you and your friend as a thank you for helping me and apologize for cleaning up my mess." Blake said while she turned her head away in shame. "I thought that I could do it by myself..."

 _Didn't you have Sun help you?_

"I thought that someone from the White Fang can tell them to stop listening to a human, but I was arrogant to think that I would be able to stop them." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before looking at Jaune.

"Then Ruby had to step in and help me with my mess followed by Spider-Man. I thought with Spider-Man's help we would be able to stop them from helping Roman, but instead he did something I thought would never work."

 _Hey! I knew my plan would work!_

"He talked to them. Not in the way I talked about the White Fang, but he talked about their individuality. Their family, their problems, he spoke about things that they alone understand and no one else. He did something I failed to understand." Looking more vulnerable then Jaune could ever imagine Blake moved her shaking hand on top of her head and removed her bow to show her true self.

"He showed us that if we really want to change the world we must first change ourselves for the better." Blake the cat Faunus said to the silent human.

 _Wow, I knew that she was a Faunus, but I never thought she looked that cu- Focus!_

"Blake." Jaune whispered. "You didn't have to tell m-"

"I do." She hissed. "If I really want to change the White Fang for the better I need to set the example like Spider-Man showed everyone at the docks. He showed everyone that behind the mask is a person just like himself, that's how the White Fang lost its way. We were once peaceful protesters, but through the years we started to wear masks to scare Remnant. Now, we don't even know what are true face is any more."

Taking a moment to put the ribbon back on her cat ears, Blake pushed the ruffled envelope back to Jaune and squeezed his hands to grab the parchment.

"Take it. I can't express myself anyway other than this. Please." She pleaded making Jaune hate himself for making her sound this distressed.

"Ok. But I'm sure the other guy will hate that you did this." Jaune told the secret Faunus making her giggle.

"I'm sure he would accept regardless. Besides, most of it's for you for paying for my meal. Plus tip."

 _Son-of-a... she remembered._

"Thank you, Blake." Jaune got from his chair and extended his hand for her to shake.

"No, thank you and your friend." Blake took the blonde's hand and gave a firm shake. "I should probably go now; my team's still in trouble for what happened so we have a certain time to report back to the headmaster."

"I'll walk you to the door."

"Thank you, Jaune." She said following the young spider to the front exit.

"Have a nice day, Blake. Tell Ruby I said hello." Jaune opened the door for her to leave.

"Don't worry." Blake's lips turned into a smirk. "I'm sure she'll be happy to know you're thinking about her."

 _Hhmmm... I don't like that smirk on her face for some reason. Oh well._

The black-haired Huntress was already out the door when her hand shot out and stopped it from closing.

"I also need to tell you to pass a message to your friend." She said in a quiet tone. "Even if the people of Vale is starting to take a liking to Spider-Man he isn't making a good impression to the Huntsmen that are in Vale."

 _I heard Tukson tell me the same thing. Just what did I do to make them not like me?_

"Why do the they not like Spider-Man? I thought they'd like him since he's helping." Jaune hoped to get a straight answer from the Huntress-in-training.

"I don't know much, but some of the pro Huntsmen are apparently losing income within the kingdom. People are now thinking that Spider-Man's doing a better job at protecting them, causing the Huntsmen to look bad." She shook her head at the immaturity.

"They don't like him because of that?" Jaune asked sounding underwhelmed.

"It's not just that. Since the incident with the docks people living in the kingdom seem more... peaceful." She struggled to explain herself.

"What?"

"I know it sounds strange, but with Spider-Man helping around the kingdom people are happier and more considerate to each other. There's less crime in Vale ever since Spider-Man hit the scene making people wonder if they need Huntsmen anymore."

"That's ridiculous! Spider-Man may stop crimes, but Huntsmen protect the people from Grimm! There's no way people would think that." Jaune told the cat Faunus at how silly the notion of Vale not needing Huntsmen was.

"People tend to forget when something new shows up in Vale." Blake shrugged her shoulders. "They're fickle, but it'll pass soon, and Spider-Man will be old news."

Images of Spider-Man clothes, food, and music flashed in Jaune's head making him doubt her claim.

"What about you?" Jaune asked her. "What do you think about Spider-Man?"

Blake stared at the blonde human for a moment then turned her body away from him. She took a few steps away from the door then spoke.

"He showed me that I need to take responsibility for what I did, or else it'll come back to haunt me. I never really listened to people since they were usually adults with authority, but with him it was like he understood what I was feeling. That if I don't own up to my problems someone I care for will be harmed."

 _Did I really make such a big effect on her? I guess I'm making a lot more changes then I imagined._

"I'm sure he'll be happy to know he was able to help, Blake."

"Thanks, Jaune. Take care." She waved good bye leaving Jaune alone at the front door.

"Maybe today wasn't such a waste after all." The blonde spider smiled, no longer thinking that today wasn't the worst he ever had. Closing the door, Jaune was about to head back to his room when he saw Aunt May standing in front of him.

"Now that she's gone you need to take a bath." Aunt May shoved a bar of soap and a bucket in to Jaune's hand then directed him to the back yard. "Badly."

* * *

 _With great power comes great responsibility. I have years of knowledge about the White Fang, it's high time I start using it to fix my mistakes._

After the incident at the docks, Blake's been trying to use old contacts to find out if the White Fang might try anything to gain back it's lost followers. Now that Spider-Man's become well known, the people of Vale have been more tolerant with one another. And with people, both Faunus and humans, getting along there's been a steady decrease of Faunus wanting to join the White Fang's radical movement.

 _The White Fang won't take this without retaliation. Adam won't take this insult standing. Spider-Man showed Faunus that living in peace with humans is possible, making him a target for the White Fang._

Pulling out her Scroll to text her friends that she was on her way back a familiar number popped up. She answered the call and placed it to her ear.

"Blake, are you there?" The person on the other end sounded anxious.

"Tukson?" Blake asked, wondering what made him sound so scared. "What's wrong?"

"Trouble. That's what's wrong. They sent some people to try and kill me, Blake. Just wanted to warn you."

"What?!" She shouted, now running to his shop to make sure he was safe. "I'm on my way!"

"Don't worry, I called the police. I was lucky that Spider-Man showed up to save me. I think they're trying to silence some deserters."

 _Spider-Man, thank you again for saving another friend of mine._

Slowing down her pace, the bow wearing Faunus talked back in her regular voice to discuss something to her old friend.

"Tukson, do you still have some connections to some of the White Fang members?"

"Yeah, I still do. Why?" Tukson asked not liking where this conversation is going.

"I need to know when the next White Fang rally is taking place. Or any past crimes relating to stealing Dust."

"What! Why would you need to know all that, Blake?" Tukson asked, now regretting that he even called her.

 _With great power comes great responsibility._

Removing the Scroll from her ear, the ex-White Fang member pressed the home button to show her lock screen of a spider symbol with her face reflecting it.

"Because, I have a responsibility to see this to the end. I need to stop the White Fang."

* * *

 **Well, there you have it ladies and gentlemen. Mercury and Emerald now appears followed by Jaune's first supper villain: The Sandman!**

 **Jaune is also seeing how people are reacting to his rise in fame as well has the negative opinions Huntsman and Huntresses have of him. We also see how Blake is taking Spider-Man's advice a little bit to seriously making her now hell bent on trying to stop the White Fang.**

 **Some of you might think that Huntsmen and Spider-Man is the same, but you also understand that being a Huntsmen has dangers that require medical care and those don't come cheap. Spider-Man fights crime with the same danger only he doesn't have health insurance like they do. They get paid doing their job, but when Spider-Man does the work for the people for free then the Huntsmen don't get the money they need. Just how some jobs are replacing old workers for better and newer employees.**

 **The people of Vale are now hailing Spider-Man as more then just a hero, but a media icon making it to a degree for the news to try and get an interview with the web head. Jaune wanted to be a hero, but he never thought that it would get this far with so many people loving his hero alter ego. Hopefully the fame won't go straight to his head, but after the beating he received by Sandman his confidence went straight back to zero.**

 **Next chapter we'll now see how his hero career is effecting his school and his main job being a photographer for the Daily Bugle. Hope you all have a nice day and leave a comment, fav, and follow this story if you love it.**

 **Like always my Beta- Reader: Maestro of Madness helped me with fixing my mistakes and after you read this chapter go check out his stories.**

 **I try to release a new chapter every Sunday or every other Sunday so you don't have to worry about waiting for a long time.**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 Picture Shows a Thousand Words

Qrow never thought that he'd be back in Vale so soon. He was on a lead to see where his last quarry was off to when Ozpin decided to call him to return to Vale for another important mission. He's been gone from Vale for quite some time that he had to rub his eyes to make sure he wasn't drinking too much for him to hallucinate.

 _What the heck is all this stuff?_

Once he boarded to the fastest bullhead to go straight back to the Kingdom of Vale the pro Huntsman was welcomed by merchants brandishing small figures of a red and blue suited hero with several other merchandises. The Huntsmen denied their advances and began walking to Beacon academy where he was once again being talked into buying the same person now on a T-shirt or hat.

Again, he just ignored the people trying to sell him things so he can go back and report to Ozpin. But when he was getting closer to the academy he saw more and more streets crowded with people in long lines entering shops selling anything related to the guy with the spider symbol.

 _Ozpin wanted me to come back for this guy?_

Qrow may not have been in Vale for long, but thanks to his nieces sending him letters or calling him he remembered that his youngest niece, Ruby, told him all about an actual super hero staying in the kingdom. At first, he thought he saw some crazy guy trying to play hero, but she told him that he's been all around Vale stopping small crimes, making him well known in Vale.

He thought that this spider guy would be caught, or die, trying to stop something he couldn't handle. Instead, he's been seeing the so-called superhero all over the place from stalls, stores, news, and people wearing clothes to show their support to the wall crawler.

 _Oz better have a reason why this guy is so much more important than my original mission._

Passing the numerous people screaming and talking about the hero the black-haired Huntsman finally arrived at Beacon.

 _After I speak to Ozpin I should probably visit Ruby and Yang._

The headmaster told him about what happened at the docks, so it was only natural to be worried about Ruby and Yang. With what went down followed by a kid getting killed, he can only imagine what the two are doing right now to cope with it. He couldn't visit them when they returned home to Patch, so it'd be a good opportunity for him to surprise them while in their 2nd semester of school.

Passing through Beacon's hallways the Huntsman saw that there are less things spider here then it was outside. He even saw a group of boys crumpling up a newspaper with a picture of the spider hero on the front showing their distaste for him.

 _Now that I think about it, not a lot of these brats seem to like this guy._

The citizens of Vale seem to love the spider. With so many buying and talking about him Qrow thought he'd expect the same thing when he entered the academy, but he guessed wrong. Most of the students he passed seemed to talk about the hero like he was a nuisance more than being helpful.

"Guess I'm not the only one thinking the same." Qrow whispered as he pulled a flask out to drink. Just as he was about to take a swig Qrow's hip flask was enveloped in a purple glow and flew out of his hands.

"Drinking any forms of alcohol is not allowed on school grounds." Glynda Goodwitch said coldly while placing the cap back on the alcohol container.

"Sorry." Qrow told the deputy while walking casually to her. "Thought that only applies to students." Lifting his arm out in front of Glynda, he gave her his best smile. "I won't drink near students. Promise."

Glynda snorted at Qrow's pleasantries and walked passed him, leaving Qrow to himself with his hand still in the air, empty.

"This way, Qrow." The deputy told him in her usual cold tone.

Shrugging his shoulders for trying to get his flask back the Huntsman followed behind the deputy of the school to the nearest staff members elevator leading straight to the headmaster's office. With the elevator raising higher and higher the two Huntsmen had a full view through the glass window showing the kingdom of Vale's many tall structures. Particularly one tall building that was facing the Academy.

"You got to be kidding me." Was what Qrow said while hearing a tired sigh coming from Glynda next to him. While they were just a few more floors below the headmaster's office they saw one tall building have a large poster showing a larger image of Spider-Man with bold captions underneath him.

'SPIDER-MAN: HERO OR MENANCE?'

"Let me guess, the Bugle?" The semi-drunk Huntsman asked, gaining a nod from the blonde Huntress.

"Mr. Jonah has shown his dislike of this masked vigilante far more openly then most of the people here in the academy."

"Yeah, I've seen it. Some of the kids here don't seem to like Spider-Guy either."

"Some of them believe that Spider-Man is starting to get too popular to the masses. Making some of the students feel less important in the eyes of the people." Glynda explained.

"Immature reason, but understandable. I'm sure they're gonna get over it when they graduate. Being a Huntsmen was never really about being famous." The red eyed man stopped talking when the elevator reached their destination.

When the doors opened the two adults entered the large clock gear interior of headmaster Ozpin's office with the man himself sitting behind his large desk holding a salmonella folder. Taking his eyes off whatever he was looking at the headmaster gave a nod to thank Qrow for arriving and started to speak.

"Mr. Brawnwen, I'm glad you arrived. Were there any problems at your previous location?" The grey-haired adult asked.

"Nothing that I can't handle. Just a few skirmishes here and there, but that's about it." Qrow's eyes narrowed at the headmaster. "How's our little guest I gave you? Any changes to her condition?"

"Regretfully, no. She's still in the same state when you dropped her off in our care. So long as she's away from our enemies I'm more then contempt to call it a small victory."

"Yeah, well the enemy might be as close as we think." Qrow pulled out another hip flask and started to drink.

"Yes, with so many shops being ransacked for only their Dust and the appearance of the White Fang doing the same, all signs point out that what they're planning has something to do with Dust. Heavy amounts of Dust."

Removing the flask from his lips the black-haired Huntsman let out a small burp before talking again.

"So, the queen could already be here in Vale. Does that mean you want me to go and investigate the crimes?"

"No, thanks to out mystery friend there seems to be less crime in Vale." Placing the folder down Ozpin slides the papers forward for Qrow to take.

Taking the folder in his hand, Qrow flipped it open to see several pictures of the hero web swing from building to building with eye witness accounts.

"After the initial heists of Dust was increasing this masked vigilante started to pop up to stop them. Not only did he stop Dust robberies, he also stopped other crimes and averted many natural accidents." Ozpin pressed a button on his Scroll.

Hearing a beep from inside his pocket, Qrow grabbed his Scroll he saw that Oz sent a video for him to watch. Pressing the play button, he watched an amateur recording showing a large speeding van about to hit a bus holding several citizens. Qrow was about to ask why he would show this to him when a red and blue blur came into view to stop the fast vehicle dead in its tracks, and left the scene before anyone could even get a good look at who saved them.

"Not bad." Qrow put his scroll back in his pocket.

"Indeed. Not many could react that fast and stop a 3000-pound heavy object moving 40 miles per hour then leave just as quick." Ozpin said in a completely normal tone while leaving Qrow speechless.

"Seriously?! I know Yang has a strong semblance, but even she'd have a hard time stopping something going that fast if her semblance didn't activate. Is he a graduate from Beacon? Maybe some student deciding to do his own thing?"

"I combed through several years' worth of students who graduated, but none showed any semblance or other abilities relating to this man. We even screened the current students we have with the same results. Whoever he is, he was not or ever was enrolled into Beacon." The only female Huntress in the room answered.

"A civilian maybe? That explains why he decided to dress in a costume and play hero. I know Huntsmen would never be caught dead wearing a silly get up like that. It'd paint a huge target sign for someone to take a pot shot at them from miles away."

"If he was a civilian then they would've been caught by the authorities or killed. For months he's stopped crimes with some people reporting he'd never been hit once." Oz informed the Huntsman.

"So? Pretty sure every student here can stop a normal thug." Qrow said unimpressed.

"Then what if I tell you that he was able to stop a dozen armed thugs using automatic firearms without letting a single bullet graze him." The headmaster said with the same neutral tone.

This made Qrow surprised once more at what his boss said. Most Huntsmen have Aura that can shield them from most small caliber bullets, but when it came to fast velocity rounds that was another problem all on its own. Sure, in time Huntsmen can get back in the fight but it'll take time and with a dozen or so hot on your heels it'll be hard not to leave without a view wounds. To know that a guy like him was able to dodge automatic fire from so many armed thugs with little to no effort made Qrow wonder if this guy was a professional.

"Does he have a speed semblance like Ruby?" The only one who was able to dodge firepower like that was his youngest niece, so it was understandable Qrow would think this Spider-Man was the same as Ruby.

"No, I asked her that after the docks and she told me he was able to dodge automatic fire with no sign of super speed. She said that it was as if he was able to know when they would try to attack even before they had the idea. The same could be said with him stopping crimes before anyone could alert the police."

"Because he was able to stop many Dust robberies before the police arrived most of the people living in the kingdom are starting to think that he's just playing the part of hero to gain Vale's trust while secretly plotting his nefarious plans. Though that doesn't explain why he would still decide to help people with mundane tasks such as helping old people cross the street or get pets down from trees." Glynda spoke her thoughts on the matter.

"That explains why the Bugle keeps publishing articles about whether or not Spider-Man's an actual hero or just some criminal hiding his true intentions about helping people. Then again, the guy running the Bugle doesn't seem to like Spider-Man to begin with." Qrow took another swig from his flask.

"Regardless of what the Bugle says, the Council thinks that this masked man needs to be put on trial, and with the police not able to catch him they sent skilled Huntsmen to capture him." Ozpin pushed another file with names of Huntsmen with notable credentials and several recommendations under their belts.

"And let me guess, they can't seem to get the guy either? Jeez Oz, who the heck is this guy?" The black-haired swordsman asked while wondering how a skilled man like this was under the radar for so long.

"That's what people in the kingdom are wondering. The Council are more worried about how this paints the Huntsmen community." Qrow raised his eye brow at what Ozpin's implying as the headmaster kept talking. "People get forgetful at what Huntsmen do, especially those living in the kingdom. The Council worries that with Spider-Man gaining so many followers people will question how a man wearing a bug suit is able to stop so much crime by himself, making the Huntsmen look incompetent and apathetic to innocents. Parents who have their kids enroll in our school also worry if their children will do the same thing as Spider-Man and decide to do things without the Council's approval. Huntsmen are getting a bit edgy at how this might threaten their financial stability since the citizens of Vale no longer see them as useful."

Taking a steady breath from talking for so long, Ozpin leaned over his desk and interlocked his fingers in front of his face.

"We have a person who's doing things without the jurisdiction of the Council. He's stopped many crimes by himself and escaped both cops and well-trained Huntsmen. What truly interests me is that he's stopping whatever plan the Queen has in store for such large amounts of Dust, making him allied to Vale and her people."

Leaning back in his chair, Ozpin sent another message to Qrow's scroll and turned his gaze over to the Kingdom beneath his office.

"With your skills I'm sure you'll be able to find him easily, Qrow. Make sure you don't confront him with the intent to harm. He may be dressed as a fool, but looks can be deceiving when it comes to this man. This Spider-Man is well trained, so be sure to speak to him rather than detain him. You may be skilled, but I'm not sure even you could put a hand on him."

* * *

"WEDGIE!" Flash Thompson shouted as he grabbed his quarry's undergarments and forcibly pulled upward.

"EEEEEEEEEEEeee!" Jaune squealed in a high pitch scream while his underwear started to get higher over his head making Jaune's vision turn white. Just as he thought his humiliation would end he felt a strong shove force him inside his open locker. As soon as Jaune was able to remove his ruined undies off his head his bully closed the locker door, leaving him trapped.

"Geez, Flash, you're so bad!" Flash's girlfriend, Liz Allen, said while hooking her arms around the star quarter back's neck then gave him a peck on his cheek. Liz unwrapped her arms and grabbed her boyfriend's jacket to drag him away from his usual mischief. "Come on! We gotta get to practice. Stop wasting your time with Jauney and let's go!" She said to him playfully.

"Relax, Liz, I'm coming." The blonde football player gave her a quick kiss then looked through the locker to see Jaune trying to get out. "Same time tomorrow, Jauney boy. Later!" He walked away while laughing.

Jaune was hoping that since he only had one more class before school ended he'd be free from being bullied, but after his spider sense warned him of someone approaching the hero knew that he'd never escape Flash and his incessant bullying.

 _At least I wore fresh underwear today._

"Hello? Anyone out there? I need some help." Jaune asked while trying to get himself in a better position in his cramped locker.

His pleas were ignored by the waves of students going to their final class with some running in the hallway and kicking his school supplies without noticing or caring. The bullied blond thought that he'd have to 'accidentally' break his locker like last time when suddenly his locker was opened to show two familiar faces.

"Told ya he'd be here." Harry said to Gwen as he helped his friend from the locker.

"Glad I remember where your locker is, or else you'd be late for class." Gwen shifted her bag over her shoulder.

"Yeah, wouldn't want to ruin my perfect attendance." Jaune told Gwen while picking up his scattered books and writing material. "Still, thanks you guys."

"No problem. What are friends for?" Harry bumped fists with the blonde teen.

"If you guys can stop talking and look at the time we only have a few minutes before we're late."

Picking up his belongings, the three classmates walked to their final class for the day. Since Gwen only shared one class with the two of them, they usually walk together whenever they get the chance. She never really hanged out with the two boys since she keeps herself busy trying to get a better job, so it was a rare sight to see all three conversing with each other.

"So, Gwen, how's the restaurant? I haven't worked there for a while since I needed to recover some lost time working for Mr. Macarren." The blonde spider asked while holding the door for his friends to enter chemistry class.

"Got fired." She said bluntly.

"What? How? You worked at that place for such a short time, how did you get fired?" Jaune asked while sitting down at an empty chemistry table.

"Apparently they caught me ease dropping on some of the customer's problems." The tanned skinned girl shook her head and looked at the two boys. "Is it so wrong of me to ease drop on other people's drama then talk about it to our co-workers and online too?" Gwen sounded offended as if she was the one wronged.

"Yes!" Both Jaune and Harry said at the same time.

"I know!" She said while putting both of her hands to cover her face. "I keep getting fired with every job I try to work at! If this goes on I'll be stuck being a camp counselor till I graduate!" Gwen sobbed.

Gwen keeps complaining about working at a camp that, by her words, is a complete disaster. She works with the man who's in charge who never really stays there to help and an even older man with a hook for a hand as the quartermaster. After hearing so many problems working at that camp Jaune was rather glad he works three jobs then work at a place like that.

"Well, I'm sure you'll get a better job somewhere. For now, though, let's get this class out of the way and go home." Harry said, getting both of his friends to agree.

* * *

"Now you apply this one into the hole and you'll get a chemical reaction." The teacher showed her bored students the rising foam coming out of the small volcano display.

Chemistry class never really interested Jaune much, he never thought that he'd ever really apply it in real life. But after fighting that sand dude that notion made him eat his words, and sand, at how useful chemistry can be.

While everyone looked at the display Jaune only paid half attention on class and focused on his side experiment. After the fight he had with Marko, Jaune decided that if his regular webbing can't touch him, then he needs to make a concoction that can entrap his sandy adversary. Long enough so he can hand him over to the police without worrying about the guy turning into sand and escaping. Which is why he was trying his best to recreate his organic webbing by using the school's chemistry class to help his endeavors.

 _Ok, if looking at my organic webs back at home, I should be able to make something close to the original. I just need to use this compound to strengthen its elasticity..._

Pouring and mixing different concoctions in a jar hidden inside the table drawer the hidden beaker soon turned a pasty white foam that started overflowing and sticking over everything it touched. Seeing the dilemma, Jaune placed a heavy book over it and quickly shut the drawer before anyone could see what he did.

"Hey." His back went rigid from someone talking behind him, making him worry that they saw him make his prototype web fluid. Turning his head over his shoulder, Jaune sighed in relief when the person behind him didn't notice and was just talking to her friend.

"Did you see that video about Spider-Man stopping that car from hitting that bus? That was so awesome!" The Midtown student said to her friend sitting next to her.

"I know! He seems so more well liked then those Huntsmen. They always seemed like they're better than normal people. Like everyone should get out of their way because they're some kinda bigshots. My best friend from algebra class told me she had her cat stuck on a high-power line a few days ago." Her friend said.

"Oh my gosh! What did she do?"

"Well, she knows that a Huntsman lived a few houses down and asked if he could help. She told me that he didn't want to waste his time and blew her off. She was worried that her cat might be stuck there and was about to call the fire department."

"And then?"

"She was about to call when suddenly Spider-Man saw her cat stuck on top of the power line, helped her get her pet down, then left before she could thank him."

"No way!"

"Yes way! I was so jealous that she saw him up close. He seems so much better than those arrogant Huntsmen. Especially those jerks at Beacon. It always seems that they can get away with so much because they go to Beacon."

"I know! They always seem to think they deserve so much fr- Hey, is that guy listening in on us?"

 _Uh-Oh!_

Snapping his head to the front the blonde started scribbling notes down to make himself blend in to the background and waited for the school bell to tell him class is over.

* * *

Just as class ended with the teacher handing out homework, Jaune, Harry, and Gwen walked through the front exit of the school and parted ways.

"Well, I'll see you guys later." Harry told them when he saw his ride park at the front of the school.

"Leaving already? I thought we could try that new sandwich shop that opened up a few blocks from here." Jaune said sadly that his friend had to leave so soon.

"Sorry, Jaune. My dad needs to talk to me and you know how he hates to wait." Harry said his goodbye then entered his family's limo and drove off, leaving Jaune and Gwen to themselves. Seeing that his friend just left, Jaune decided to ask what Gwen's plans were for today.

"You plan to find another job? I can ask my boss to get you one working at his Dust shop." Jaune said to his fellow workaholic.

"No thanks, I'm actually going to meet with the biology teacher and see if he needs some help working at his lab."

"He has a lab? Biology teacher?" Jaune asked Gwen. "Is he already starting work here?"

"He didn't start yet. I was lucky to meet him when he arrived here to talk to the principle. Hopefully it'll go down well. Hope he doesn't ask me weird questions like most people who interview me." Waving goodbye, Gwen went back inside the school, leaving Jaune all alone.

Seeing that he was the only teen still near the school, the hero pulled out his pictures from his back pack and looked at his hard work.

 _These pictures are pretty good with me fighting that sand guy. Hopefully I can get a bit more lien with these pics since they're still recent._

Taking the public bus to arrive at his most prominent income for lien. The daily Bugle was by far one of the most well-known and well-respected businesses with its employees always looking for the best news worthy stories. They have to since their boss is the most well-known and influential person: J. Jonah Jameson, A.K.A the number 1 man who hates Spider-Man. If his loud and angry voice describing how he hates Spider-Man doesn't convince you then the giant poster attached to the Bugle will.

 _Putting his hate aside, at least he's using one of my pictures._

Entering the building, Jaune walked to the reception desk and flashed his staff ID. He then used the company elevator to reach his boss to deliver his daily pictures. Reaching the top floor, the young photographer saw the usual sight of bustling reporters coming in and out of J.J.'s office either giving him something news worthy or getting their daily dose of their boss yelling at them.

"Good to see you here, Jaune. Come to drop off the usual?" A feminine voice said behind him.

Turning to see J.J.'s secretary, Betty Brant, Jaune gave her his usual crooked smile before showing her his new photos for the boss to see.

"Good to see you, Betty. Is he doing something at the moment?" He asked while walking alongside her.

"Mr. Jameson's always busy, and by busy, I mean completely blowing his lid at what's going around the kingdom." The brunet secretary said while reaching her desk. Since she was the secretary of J.J. her desk was in front of his office, making her the first line of defense for everyone's safety if they were foolish enough to barge in on J.J.'s personnel space.

"So does that mean I have to come back later?" Jaune asked hoping that he would be able to get his pay now then later.

"Well, that depends. What do you have to show our fearless leader?" Betty smirked when the young photographer gave her his new photos of J.J.'s hated celebrity.

Taking the photos from Jaune's hand, the brunette looked at each photo with increasing interest at what he was giving to the Bugle. Getting off her chair, Betty walked away from her desk and opened Jonah's door to stick her head in to notify Jaune's arrival. Just as she opened the door the secretary closed it and turned around to give the blonde a wide smile.

"You're in luck," Betty moved away from the door and back at her desk. "He already finished yelling at one of his business partners on the phone, so you can enter."

"Thanks, Betty." He nodded in gratitude and knocked on his boss's door to let him know he's about to enter. "Good morning, J-"

"Shut up and sit down." Jonah said in his usual gruff tone.

"Understood, Mr. Jameson." Jaune immediately sat on the chair across from J.J.

Sitting in silence, the photographer looked anxious at his boss, who was flipping through the pictures of him being Spider-Man. The usual pictures of him stopping robberies or accidents started to lose some interest to his boss, so he hoped these new pictures of him fighting Flint could maybe make J.J. give a few extra lien for his effort.

"Crap," J.J flipped to the next picture. "Crap," He flipped to another photo. "Mega crap." Putting the picture in one neat file the chief-editor looked at the disappointed teen with disinterest.

"300 Lien should be enough like always. You can go now." The man waved his hand to motion Jaune to leave his office. Just as he was about to get up from his chair, J.J.'s office phone rang, making the older man pick it up to answer.

"Hello? Break in? Bullets passed right through him? Ok, got it." Jonah hanged up the phone and looked back at his youngest photographer about to step out of his office. "Sit down."

Seeing that his boss needed to talk to him again, Jaune quickly sat back down and listened to the man.

"I'll give you an extra 200 lien since no one else has caught these two in a picture yet." J.J. told the now smiling blonde before waving his hand in the air. "Partnership gone wrong: Sandman and Spider-Man attack!"

 _Of course, this would happen. Why did I expect any less from you, J.J._

"Wait. Partnership? Sandman? Spider-Man wasn't trying to make a partnership with the guy, he was trying to stop him." Jaune tried to defend his hero identity, but like always his boss just ignored it.

 _Fine. Whatever. At least he gave me more lien than usual, that was the main objective after all._

"Also, did you just say 'Sandman'?" Jaune asked why Jonah decided to give the guy Spider-Man was fighting a nickname.

"Yup, Sandman! You like that!?" Jonah sounded pleased with himself. "Made it up myself. These weirdos are all gonna have a name now." Jonah's eyes went wide before he reached for his phone.

"But Mr. Jameson, Spi—"

"Hoffman!" Jonah yelled into the phone.

Jaune was about to talk to his boss again when suddenly a man wearing a striped suit and glasses bursts through the door.

"Yes, sir?" Hoffman asked while both Jaune and Jonah looked surprised at how he appeared seconds after Jonah called his name.

 _Was he just waiting outside for his name to be called? Creepy._

Seeing that Jonah no longer needed the phone he set it aside and talked to Hoffman in his usual bossy tone.

"Call the Patent office and tell them to copyright the name: Sandman. I want a lien for every time somebody says it." The editor-in-chief pulled out a cigar from his desk to smoke it to congratulate himself on a job well done.

"Yes, sir. But what about we call hi-"

"HOFFMAN!" Jonah booming voice caused both the blonde and the glasses wearing adult to flinch. The cigar smoking boss didn't say anymore words and used his thumb to motion Hoffman away from his office.

"Mr. Jameson?" Jaune spoke up to get his boss's attention again. "Spider-Man didn't try to make a deal with Sandman. He was trying to catch him before he escapes, that's slander."

"It is not." Jonah said matter-of-factly. "I resent that! Slander is spoken and in print it's libel."

"You don't trust anybody, that's your problem." Jaune looked a bit sad that he still can't get his boss to accept that Spider-Man was doing good in the kingdom.

The boss man went silent at what he heard before he turned back to his normal uncaring self. "I trust my barber." Jonah said before quickly narrowing his eyes at his only visitor.

"What are you, his lawyer? Get out of here, let him sue me like a normal person. That's what made this kingdom great after all." With nothing left to say the photographer silently left his office.

 _If I could then I'd be talking to you behind bars for revealing my secret. Still, at least I have enough to pay any extra bills Aunt May could have._

With his goal reached, Jaune decided to take another detour to visit someone else who can help him with his little project. Just as he was about to leave, Betty noticed his departure and decided to speak to him.

"Taking off already, Arc?" Betty said while she typed up whatever her boss told her to do.

"Yeah." Jaune said with a dejected tone.

"Let me guess, another title portraying Spider-Man as the bad guy?"

Jaune nodded at Betty, making her shake her head at J.J.'s reckless abandon of saying whatever he wants without thinking. "I know that Mr. Jameson's a bit intense on trying to make Spider-Man look like the bad guy, but you can't let just one guy make you think the same as him when almost everyone in Vale thinks Spider-Man is a hero."

Leaning on her desk with her hand under her chin, Betty gave Jaune her usual smirk before speaking again. "Besides, aren't you forgetting something even more important? Something you usually give me whenever you leave Jonah's office?"

"Uh? Oh!" Jaune smacked his forehead for forgetting something so important. "I forgot to get the check Jonah was supposed to give me!"

Chuckling at his forgetfulness, Betty got up from her chair and patted the now down casted teen's back in reassurance.

"Don't worry. I'll get it from Jonah, you go ahead and get home." The older woman reassured the blonde teen.

"Thanks, Betty, you're a life saver."

"Comes with the job when you're working with the most insufferable guy in Remnant. Have a safe trip back home, Jaune." Betty said while nudging him to the elevator.

"Thank you, Betty, bye." The teen was able to get in one last thanks before the elevator doors closed between them.

 _At lease Betty's the only one in the Bugle that speaks her mind. Everyone else usually sides with J.J. about Spider-Man being a menace, but when you have a boss like Mr. Jameson it's understandable that you don't want to anger him._

As the elevator finally reached the first floor, the blonde teen gave the receptionist a smile goodbye then left through the Bugle's front doors. Stopping at the bottom of the Bugle's stairs, Jaune looked up at the tall building showing the large display of Spider-Man in distaste.

' _Hero or Menace, huh? Well, Jameson, the next newspaper you'll publish will be Spider-Man catching the Sandman. Then you'll see how wrong you are._

"I just hope what I'm making will actually help me do that." Jaune said aloud before going to his next stop on his list: Mr. Macarren's Dust shop.

Walking to the direction of his second job, Jaune took a few steps when he heard a very familiar voice call out from behind him.

"Jaune?"

Just as he looked behind him, Jaune's blue eyes met silver once more and his next destination was quickly forgotten.

* * *

 **And here you go! Another job Jaune works at that helps him with his daily life as well has him trying something that could help him solve his little Sandman problem. We also see what Ozpin's plan is for Spider-Man as well as what others thinks of him too. Like most people who has a job they feel threatened when something new could possibly replace them. That is what most Huntsmen think when they hear how the people of Vale talk about Spider-Man making Huntsmen not like the web head. As for the students of Beacon, they just feel jealous that Spider-Man is getting more attention then they are. Some of you might disagree, but you can also understand that some students in Beacon can be a bit arrogant and egotistical at times when they have skills and talents other do not.**

 **I know most of you will think that since he has organic webbing that Jaune doesn't need to make web shooters, but like all Spider-Man enemies, Jaune is using his resources to try and get a leg up on his enemies. Not to mention, with Jaune's webs able to go right through Marko's body he would need to find a better way to keep him in place so Jaune can actually catch him.**

 **Jaune has been dealing with normal crimes making him a bit complacent when dealing with normal criminals. Now that he has a villain that seems untouchable and making him see that not all problems will be easy, Jaune needs to start thinking out side the box if he wants to stop Sandman and other future villains that could be an even greater threat then Flint Marko. That's why he is making special types of web fluid that can do that, but the next chapter will go into further detail.**

 **I also wanted to use Sandman because I wanted Jaune to fail at fighting him making Jaune realize he needs something more then normal webs and also make Jaune see that he can't be over confident when fighting his opponents.**

 **Another thing I read in the comments is how I use the characters in Marvel then RWBY. I'm just showing how Jaune is living in a normal life compared to the characters in RWBY. I just wanted to show how his life is different when he is replacing Peter Parker. Just like how other characters replace Peter as Spider-Man in comics I'm also showing how I retell a 'what if' tale of Jaune not going in to Beacon and Peter coming along with his biological family that perished in a plane crash. But do not worry, the next chapter will have the cast of RWBY show up and also what made Flint Marko turn into the Sandman.**

 **Hope you enjoyed this chapter and you all like, Fav, and follow this story. I also hope you check my Beta-Reader's stories and show your support to him too. Thank you.**

 **Beta-Reader: Maestro of Madness**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10 A Plan Comes Together

 **Beta-Reader: Maestro of Madness**

* * *

"Man, that was a good way to start our new semester at Beacon!" Yang voiced her thoughts while stretching her arms in the air.

"What are you talking about!? We got detention for the next three days!" The Dust heiress hissed as she glared at the rest of her snickering teammates. "And why are you both smiling? We got in trouble on the first day of the second semester!"

"It was pretty nice to start things off that way." Ruby tried to defend her reason as to why she did the most damage to the cafeteria.

"Besides," Blake decided to join the conversation. "We didn't say anything to you when you decided to join with a sword fish."

"T-that was for self-defense, and to stop our enemies from getting the upper hand." She looked away to hide her blushing embarrassment from that senseless brawl from yesterday.

"You mean when we decided to fight Pyrrha's team, who also joined the food fight." Blake replied back before looking to her Scroll whenever it signaled her a text.

After the stern talking from Deputy Goodwitch, the gang decided to explore the kingdom since they didn't want to encounter the strict teacher's ire again. Yang had the idea that they should get some Dust since they've been running low whenever they spar in combat class.

Though, on their journey they got sidetracked when they entered the shopping district and were assaulted by shops trying to give them a reason to check their wares. All of which were about the wall crawler.

The heiress seemed the most miserable being surrounded by a constant stream of screaming children telling their parents they want a Spider-Man action figure, or wanting an all Spider-Man birthday party. It made her mood even more sour when Ruby decided to join in on the absurd fad and use her Lien to buy a Spider-Man T-shirt and an X-Ray and Vav comic book featuring the spider hero and his misadventures.

That was just a few hours ago, yet even after they left that offending street the young Schnee continued to see the Spider wherever she goes, as if the web head was following her, making her even angrier.

 _Spider-Man this! Spider-Man that! He's now just a cash cow for people to milk!_

"Why exactly did we even take this street?" Weiss asked. "My family owns most of the Dust shops, I can practically get them for free. As a matter of fact, I could even order some and it'd be sent to our dorm room free of charge. So, why do we have to go to this one in particular?"

"Because, Ice Queen." Yang placed her arm around the peeved heiress. "Ruby wants to see her Jaune~"

"Yang!" Ruby wined while swatting a hand on her older sister's arm.

"What? I think it's cute that you want to see him. I'm so proud that you're getting out of your comfort zone, sis." Yang's tone was that of a mother when she saw her daughter talk to a boy she liked.

"It's not like that! I just wanted to check on the new shop his boss owns, that's all." Ruby walked ahead of her group to no longer hear her sister's talk about Jaune and her.

"Uh-huh. And who told you that little tidbit?" Yang gave the embarrassed girl a smirk.

"Jau- UGH!" The red cheeked Huntress shouted in frustration and continued to walk further away from her team.

"She seems much better now." Blake reminded her teammates.

The incident involving the docks was still fresh in their minds even when it took place a month ago. All of them knew that they'd expect casualties when they graduate, they just didn't know that it'd happen in their freshmen year. It seemed to affect Ruby the most. Not because of her age, since she was taught by her father and uncle that Remnant wasn't a nice place, but rather she blames herself that she wasn't fast enough to save Penny in time which caused someone else to sacrifice their life, so her friend would live.

Yang was worried that her little sister wouldn't get out of her funk, but she was glad that with time spent back at Patch she seems good as new. Though, there were brief moments she caught her sister have a far-off look here and there, but other than that she was perfectly fine. The blonde bomb shell was even more pleased that her sister seems more outgoing and doesn't hide under her hood as much.

 _Ruby seems to be in high spirits today. Either because we're going to see Jaune or because she got some Spider-Man stuff. So long as she's happy I don't care either way._

Yang was about to voice her opinion on the matter when she saw her sister talk to someone all too familiar a few feet away from them, motioning the two other girls to follow her. Catching up to their leader, they saw her in an even happier mood talking to another blonde who also equals Ruby's enthusiasm.

"It seems going to Jaune's works is no longer relevant now that she found him herself." Ruby's partner said.

"It looks less like talking and more like fumbling to get their words out." Blake's body started to shake due to her partner grabbing her shoulders.

"Aww~ It's so cute that my sister found an even more awkward person to semi-talk too." Yang continued shaking her now dizzy teammate.

As if sensing someone watching them, Jaune turned to Ruby's team and gave them a wide smile.

"Hey! It's good to see you guys again." The blonde boy waved his arm to greet them.

"Hey, Jaune. How you been?" Yang gave him a friendly smack on the back. The amount she put made him stumble a bit, but he seemed perfectly fine, showing no sign of discomfort.

"Not much, I was planning to go to Mr. Macarren's shop to get some Dust. Ruby was heading there too, so why don't we all head there together?"

"I have no complaints." Blake agreed and walked over to stand next to Ruby and Jaune.

"Eh, might as well, come on Weiss! You can complain about someone else's Dust shop while we walk there." The female blonde pulled the Schnee's arm for her to follow. "Besides, at least there you don't have to worry about Spider-Man following you around."

Seeing the discomfort the white pony tail girl was in, Jaune chuckled nervously and pointed his finger upwards. "Yeah, I'm not sure about that last thing. Look for yourself."

Following the boy's direction, Weiss let out a frustrated yell as she saw the web head in a larger poster covering the side of the Bugle. Finally being fed up with Spider-Man, the young heiress snapped her head back down and walked passed the group in a straight line, not even knowing if she was going the right way or not.

Seeing that Weiss was walking ahead of them, Ruby increased her pace to catch up with her partner.

"How is this possible?" Weiss said while keeping her eyes focused on crossing the road to another side walk. "I remember several months ago only a small percent knew about this guy and now the whole kingdom can't seem to shut up about him!"

"Weiss!" Ruby groaned at her partners usual complaint about the hero. "Come on, Weiss! Can't you let it go! He stopped the White Fang at the docks from stealing lots of Dust, you got to give him a break."

"You did too!" The Schnee stopped her walking and turned to Ruby. "So did Blake and that stowaway! Don't even get me started on that little friend of yours either. Yet everyone thinks it was Spider-Man that did all the work and we got a warning for our troubles."

"We stopped them from doing whatever they were planning." Ruby's face soon turned solemn. "The only thing I wished that could change was that it didn't have to end with someone dying."

Seeing her partner's depressed state, Weiss' aggressive behavior soon died out and was replaced with regret for making her leader remember that horrible incident.

"Ruby, I didn't mean to-"

"Hey, guys! Wait up!" Yang yelled from behind them and stopped once she caught up to her two teammates. "Geez, what's the hurry, Sis? Jaune's with us already so there's no need to hurry."

"Yang!" Ruby's sad complexion changed back to its usual embarrassed state at the comment. Weiss was just glad that Yang was able to catch up to them in time and prevent the situation from getting worse. "Stop saying that! I don't think of him that way!"

"Think who that way?"

"EEP!" The red huntress zoomed behind her older sister when Jaune and Blake joined the conversation. "Jaune!?"

"Wait, what about me?" Jaune seemed confused by the younger girl's jittery condition.

"I-I mean..." Ruby's face became a deeper shade of red as the blonde boy stared at her, while Yang decided to stop her sister's suffering and spoke on Ruby's behalf.

"She was talking about her feelings about Spider-Man. You know, with so many people talking about him my sister was about to tell Weiss her thoughts on the spider hero." Yang explained as she moved away so her baby sister can stop hiding behind her.

"I just think it's really nice to have Spider-Man in Vale." Ruby's voice started to get more and more confident as she kept talking to Jaune. "I mean, a lot of us who go to Beacon seem to not like Spider-Man, but I think it's really cool he's doing it. You know, being an actual superhero in real life!"

After hearing her speak about Spider-Man, the blonde boy seemed to preen. Meanwhile, the heiress looked between Ruby and Jaune talking about Spider-Man that made her face palm at the realization.

 _Oh no, don't tell me he's also a Spider-Man fan too!_

"Wow, Ruby. I'm glad you think that way about him." Jaune sounded relieved to hear her say that.

"Y-Yeah, I just think that it's really cool that people are seeing him as an actual hero. I mean, he's even in X-Ray and Vav comic books!" To prove her point, Ruby pulled out said book from her shopping bag to show she was telling the truth.

"Wow! I was trying to get one of those." Jaune looked over the book and began to frown. "Instead, I bought the wrong comic book."

"Really? How'd you mess that up?" Laughing at her friend's mistake, the two awkward teens began to walk again leaving the rest of Ruby's team to stare at how they were forgotten again.

"Well, looks like we don't existent again." Blake had a small smile for seeing her leader have a normal conversation with someone besides her small group of friends. "I'm sure one of us is more thankful that she got out of her mess."

Weiss knew that Blake was able to hear her small ranting from earlier and gave her other two teammates a look of worry.

"I'm sorry I went off like that. I thought that Ruby was just having her usual obsession of Spider-Man like every other person we came across. I didn't know she actually looked up to him that much."

"Yeah, Ruby's a real die-hard superhero fan. Always has been when she was a kid." Yang told the SDC heiress.

"I just don't like how he became so popular in such a short time." Weiss informed Yang and Blake while the three followed behind their leader talking to the only boy in the group. "Take Pyrrha for example, she had to win many tournaments to get where she is, while it only took Spider-Man stopping random thefts and fixing regular problems."

"Don't forget about him helping us at the docks. I think that was when Vale started to take him seriously." Blake said in a defensive tone. "And maybe that's why people like him. He helps people with their daily problems without asking for anything."

"Yeah, but that's why we enrolled to Beacon, right? To help people who're in trouble. We can do what Spider-Man does, helping people I mean." Yang said while her mind was showing her what might happen if all Huntsmen would be like Spider-Man.

"I don't think being a Huntsmen would imply us helping someone get their pet down from some place high or help the elderly cross the road." Blake's face soon grimaced at a few people she had in mind. "People like Cardin and his team come to mind as the type of people to not help civilians with mundane things."

After hearing that name, Yang and Weiss can only give Blake a firm nod at who she was talking about. Team CRDL was another team in their class that passed initiation along with Ruby and Pyrrha's team. They were also the most well-known for causing the most trouble by bullying other students with the teachers not even intervening to stop them.

Blake could only shake her head in disgust at remembering the times she saw Cardin and his lackeys picking on other students with no one else, not even her, to step in to stop them.

 _I really am a hypocrite. I keep talking about defending others who can't defend themselves and yet never stopped them._

"You can't really compare students from Beacon to Spider-Man." Weiss stopped talking for just a moment and moved her sights to check Ruby and Jaune who were still in view. "Cardin may be a bully, but we're all students training to be Huntsmen. If they wanted to stop Cardin they could have easily stopped him and his team themselves. Spider-Man is just swinging around Vale and stopping normal crimes we can do too if we had the chance. Maybe even better."

Blake didn't want to tell Weiss that while she also took part in fighting the White Fang she was also taking glimpses at Spider-Man's fighting style. The secret Faunus was only left with more questions than answers at how the masked hero was able to fight countless foes with no formal hand to hand training. It was just normal punches and kicks fused with agility and flexibility that even Weiss would be jealous of.

 _Aside from his superior agility and reflexes that doesn't explain how he was able to dodge so many enemies attacking him all at once._

She herself would be overwhelmed at so many enemies attacking her, that's why she used her Semblance whenever she needed to take a step back and find another route to attack. Same could apply to Ruby, she could just use her speed to handle her enemies no problem. But instead of using a Semblance, Spider-Man simply used his fists and dodged when needed, causing Blake to wonder if he even has a Semblance.

 _He doesn't have the same abilities as me or Ruby, but what makes me wonder about him is his uncanny sense to know when the enemy was going to strike. Could that be his Semblance? Knowing what the enemy is thinking?_

"If you guys are gonna keep talking about the guy, then you two can stay outside. We're already here." Yang announced their arrival, causing the two to stop talking and look at Jaune's second job. "And what do you know, even this place is Spider-Man friendly!"

Weiss could only shake her head in denial as she slowly walked to the display window showing a large pile of dust stacked together to form Spider-Man's face. Making the young Schnee grow even more paranoid at the hero being practically everywhere.

"No..." Weiss groaned while staring directly into compound eyes she has been seeing all over the Kingdom.

"Come on, Weiss." Yang pulled Ruby's partner inside the store. "I'm sure Jaune would appreciate it if you wouldn't stick your face so close to the window. Wouldn't want his boss to think he hangs around with a bunch of weirdos."

* * *

"Welcome back, Miss Rose! Good to see you back." Mr. Macarren welcomed the young Huntress before quickly wrapping his arms around her for a big hug.

"Good to see you're back in business." She tried to get some air in her suffocated lungs.

Letting the young girl go from his hug the owner of the store gave Jaune a sly smirk seeing that his young Dust clerk brought a girl here. "Here to show off, Jaune? I'm sure Mrs. Parker will be ecstatic to see when you show Ruby to her."

Hearing that from his boss, Jaune soon remembered Aunt May's reaction when Blake visited her home and how she wanted to 'help' him get Blake's attention. Thinking about what might happen if he brought Ruby to Aunt May made him shiver at the implication if Aunt May saw another girl visiting her home just to see him.

 _This must never happen. I don't think my heart withstand the embarrassment._

"But enough about that. What can a I help you two with?" Mr. Macarren asked before walking behind the cashier desk and pulled out a large binder. "We got some fresh supplies and some new weapon catalogs if your little friend wants to take a peak."

"Really!?" Ruby walked closer to the register to get a better look at what the owner was showing them. "Wow! There's so many cool stuff in here! How fast will these parts arrive?"

"For you my dear, I'd make sure it'll be here no later than one day!" Mr. Macarren's proclamation caused the red hooded huntress to shake from anticipation.

"Do you think I can also have the same treatment?" Jaune questioned making both Ruby and his boss look at him with surprise.

"Really, Jaune? You want to order something from the weapon's catalog?" His boss asked, curious as to why Jaune would want to buy things only Huntsmen use daily.

"Just some parts, not really an entire weapon. I'm not sure I can afford most of those things on paper. Just some small parts so I can tinker around with." Jaune explained his reason. "Most of my family are Huntsmen so I kind of got hooked on figuring out how they work."

 _Of course that's a flat out lie. I thought my sister's weapons were pretty cool, but I never really had the aptitude to wonder how they work. That's why I brought Crocea Mors due to how simple it was._

"Really!? Your family are Huntsmen!?" Ruby said in an even more exited tone from hearing her friend have a similar family like hers. "My family are Huntsmen too! Do they go to Beacon?"

"No, half of my sisters and my dad are Huntsmen. The other half go to regular school in Ansel while my mom is a retired Huntress."

"Oh. Did she get injured while on a mission?" Ruby asked in worry about how Jaune's mother retired from being a Huntress.

 _When you give birth to your eighth child you might as well throw in the towel after that._

"She didn't want to keep going between having to take care of us and also be a Huntress. Besides, she still keeps herself busy working a normal job and with dad and my sisters being Huntsmen we're not hurting for lien." Jaune told Ruby.

 _Though the only one who's hurting on the Lien is me of course._

"I just want to order some parts is all. A science experiment I need to make for my school."

Just as Jaune was putting an order on some parts, Ruby can only think about how similar her interest was with Jaune.

 _He likes to tinker with weapons, has a family that are Huntsmen, and he's also a fan of Spider-Man! I never had a friend with so many interests like me before and now I do! Score!_

"Hey, Jaune." Ruby spoke up when Jaune was finished signing his receipt to confirm his purchase.

"Yes, Ruby?" Ruby happy exterior soon turned in to nervousness as Jaune's gaze went to her.

"Well, if you want, when you get the parts your ordered maybe you and I co-"

Just as Ruby was about to finish her sentence the front door opened showing the rest of Ruby's team entering Mr. Macarren's Dust store.

"Hey, sis! Did we miss anything?" Yang sudden entrance completely ruined Ruby's moment to ask Jaune something important.

With a new customer entering the shop, the boss pushed away the large binder and focused his attention on the new arrival.

"Welcome to my... Dust shop..." His friendly disposition soon went rigid when he saw the second arrival behind Ruby's sister making him turn his head to his off-duty employee. "Jaune, a word with you. In the back of the store."

"Sir?"

"Now, Jaune." Mr. Macarren's rudeness surprised the boy at the sudden change of his boss's attitude, but agreed nonetheless. Giving Ruby an apologetic stare, Jaune followed behind his boss to the back room where Amy, who was the second one working here today, was stacking small jars of Dust out of their containers.

"Amy, you run register and don't freak out." His boss said to her. Not wanting to make her boss any madder, the young Mid Town student left the back room and greeted whoever the customer is.

"Welcome to- OH MY GOSH!" Amy screamed at who she was seeing causing the blonde hero to wonder just what was going on with his boss and fellow co-worker.

"Mr. Macarren, what's going on?" Jaune asked in worry for why his boss is acting so strangely.

"What's going on, Jaune, is that girl with the white hair is a Schnee!"

"Bless you." The blonde Dust clerk's ignorance caused his boss to pinch the bridge of his nose.

"I didn't sneeze, that's her last name. Schnee. Her family's the one of the richest people in Remnant. Their main revenue is Dust and they make sure they own lots of it too. Even buy out other people who run Dust stores or make them bankrupt!" Jaune's boss explained to his clueless employee.

 _Whoa! She's that well known! The only person who can be on the same level as her will be Harry, but even then, it's mostly his father that calls all the shots._

"Why is a Schnee here anyway? Is she here to make me a deal to buy my store?" Mr. Macarren said, more to himself then to his employee, while pacing back and forth.

Not wanting his boss to be stressed over something as this, Jaune stopped him from pacing and explained why a Schnee is here.

"The girl in all white, Weiss, she's from Beacon and her partner is Ruby. Weiss is just here as a huntress-in-training and that's it. You wouldn't help them because she's a Schnee, would you?" Jaune asked his boss. "If you don't then Ruby, the girl who helped us stave off the thugs, will be really sad that you would do that to her friend."

"You're... right, I don't want to do that to the girl." His boss finally seeing reason in Jaune's logic. "Sorry for making you see that, Jaune. I'm just worried about trying to keep my business running after the whole robbery."

 _You're wrong. It's perfectly normal to worry about something you worked so hard at making and then be crushed when it's taken away from you. That feeling is all too familiar to me._

"Come on, Mr. Macarren. I think we should get back out there before they wonder why we let Amy help them." Getting a nod of agreement from Mr. Macarren the two left the back room and saw that Amy was talking to all four girls in a casual manner, no longer panicked at the fact that one of them is the heiress to the largest Dust company in Remnant.

"And then Spider-Man came to my rescue and saved my cat!" Amy told the group of young Huntresses as she showed her a picture of Spider-Man grabbing her cat from the power line on her Scroll to prove her point. "I wanted to thank him, but he left soon after. Probably saving someone else in trouble."

"Wow! That's so cool, Amy." Ruby told the freshmen student for meeting Spider-Man.

"A kind gesture goes a long way. I'm glad Spider-Man can put in the time to help someone with a problem like that." Blake complemented the hero as a small smile crept to her lips.

"Yeah, it really saved me the time to call the fire department. I'm not even sure they would've arrived in time if my cat decided to jump." Just as Amy was about to continue she spotted Jaune and her boss coming back from their conversation. "Hey, you two, what took you guys so long?"

"We just wanted to talk about some of the new products I've been wanting to get the store." Mr. Macarren said to her. "Jaune was telling me it'd be great if we had a vending machine."

"That'd be cool to have. I was just telling them about Spider-Man saving my cat that got stuck on top of a power line." Amy told the only two males in the store with the blonde hero's eyes going wide at hearing this story before.

 _I didn't know that cat was Amy's. Then again, I was more focused on getting the cat down safely, so I guess I didn't even notice who I helped._

"Talking about Spider-Man is good and all, but I'm sure you girls would probably want to talk about getting Dust then about Spider-Man. Am I right?"

"Sir, you're the only one who's speaking the most sense." Weiss said to the owner like he was the only one with his head on straight. "My partner was trying to get some Dust for her weapon."

"Ok, what type of Dust do you need?" Mr. Macarren asked Ruby. "Any in particular you need. I'll even make it half off as a thank you."

"Thank you so much. I don't need much, just need some fire and ice Dust."

"Coming right up." Jaune's boss went to work on getting the small reaper her Dust.

With the boss mixing two different colors of Dust in to one, Jaune walked closer to Ruby and asked her a question.

"Hey Ruby, how does Dust work with your weapon? I know Dust applies to almost everything in Remnant, but how does it work with Huntsmen?"

"Ummm, I can't really explain it in my words, but Weiss told me that when you mix it with different Dust it makes different colors and when in use it can turn into different elements."

"What about when you add it with different chemicals? Will they cause a bad reaction?"

The question Jaune gave her made Ruby think for a while but gave up on answering.

"I don't know about that. The only one who knows more about it is Weiss. Hold on, I'll go get her. Weiss!" The young Schnee turned to look at her partner for yelling her name when she was just at the end of the cashier table.

"What, Ruby?" The pale skinned huntress groaned at Ruby's silly antics.

"Jaune asked me a question that you might know the answer too."

Turning her cold gaze to the blonde civilian, Weiss waited for him to stop squirming from her stare to ask her what he needed to say.

"I just asked Ruby if Dust can be fused with different chemicals or inorganic things." Jaune asked Weiss while trying not to feel like an idiot for saying it out loud.

"Of course you can fuse it with inorganic things like clothing or contain it in a weapon like mine and Ruby's. You work in a Dust shop, I thought you knew these things."

 _Not really, I just work here because I need a job._

"Well, I just wanted to ask since I'm not a Huntsmen like you guys. But what if someone decides to fuse Dust in their body?" Jaune's question caused Weiss to wonder why he'd ask when he just said it's pointless for someone who isn't a Huntsmen. Deciding to humor him, Weiss explained to Jaune how Dust works on the human body.

"You can, but it would be wise not to. If you were a Huntsmen you can have the strength and Aura to withstand the pain if directly injected, but if you tried to use different types at once it could prove to be fatal."

"I see." The young hero then placed a hand under his chin in thought before giving her a wide smile. "Thank you, Weiss."

"Your welcome." The heiress told him in a prideful voice. "Dust is my specialty." Just as she finished she heard the cash register open signaling her reason for being here was over.

"Finally got what I need." Ruby showed her friends the bag of Dust she bought. "We can go back to Beacon now."

"When you have the time, be sure to come back. I'll have the parts you need real soon." Jaune's boss reminded Ruby before he waved his hand in good bye. "Have a nice day, girls."

"It was nice to see you all here." Amy waved goodbye to the four leaving the store. "Hope you guys visit again."

"Thank you for the help!" Ruby waved her arms as she was the last to exit the store, but stopped when she saw Jaune not moving from his spot. "Jaune?"

"You guys are going back to Beacon, right?" Jaune asked as the blonde's face morphed in to a deep frown.

"Yeah, we can't really stay out for long since we got in trouble at Beacon." Ruby answered him.

"Oh. Well, you guys have a nice day." Jaune gave her a small smile, but for some reason it wasn't giving Ruby the same warm feeling he usual emits when he smiles. "I need to get some Dust before going home. See ya!"

"Ok. Bye, Jaune." As Ruby was closing the front door, Jaune let out a shaky breath he was holding and leaned against the counter to get his bearing back together.

 _I already feel miserable looking at Beacon academy from my normal school, I don't want to feel like a complete failure by setting one foot near that place._

"You ok, Jaune." Jaune's boss asked, knowing why Jaune was feeling so down after being reminded from Ruby that she's going somewhere he can never set foot in and why he was working a normal job in the first place.

"Yeah. I will be." Jaune gave Mr. Macarren his best smile before finally getting back on track to his main objective. "Now, about that whole half off on Dust you talked about."

* * *

"Really son, I know you have trouble with grades, but how you got a C in English class makes me wonder if you're even trying." Norman Osborn said to his son sitting next to him on a public bench.

Both father and son were sitting near the public park where many friends, families, and lovers alike were enjoying the afternoon day with only Harry and Norman Osborn being the exception.

"I studied real hard to make up for it." Harry tried to explain but was ignored by his father.

"This is the report card the school is about to give you soon, you can't expect to change it now with how unmotivated you are. If you want Jaune to carry you all the way to senior year I might as well hire him as your tutor." Folding the report card in half, Osborn senior handed the report card to his down casted son and got up from his chair.

"Now I want you to sit there and think about your weaknesses, what you need to do to fix it, and quickly squash it out of your head. I'll make some phone calls to assist your problems, don't want Jaune to think you're a lousy friend, do you?"

"No dad." Harry replied in a weak tone, not even arguing with his father on the matter.

Walking away from his son, Norman stopped under the shade of a tall oak tree facing a large sand box. The only one in the sand pit was a little girl building a large sand castle hoping that someone would be impressed with her structure and would want to play with her. Stepping out of the shadow of the oak tree for the sun to bath Norman in light the large sand castle soon collapsed, making the young girl to start crying for her destroyed creation.

"What?" Flint Marko said behind Osborn senior.

"Can't I visit one of my employees on their time off work?" Norman spoke in a sarcastic tone causing the sand from Flint's body to shift uncontrollably.

"What do you want?" Flint asked again trying to get his emotions in check, so he can maintain his human form. "I stole Dust, made a huge scene around the kingdom. Even got myself a nickname too from the Bugle. What else do you want from me?"

"Carful with that tone of yours, 'Sandman'." Norman turned his head to look at a frustrated Flint. "You should be thanking me for the powers you have. If you stayed in prison you wouldn't be able to have the powers to defeat anyone in your way, to defeat Spider-Man, to be with your daughter."

When Flint heard Norman mention his daughter he immediately stood at attention, no longer wanting to push his luck with Norman Osborn.

"Then again, it could have been any mindless nobody who could have stumbled into my testing sight. So really, it was your blind luck that made you into what you are." Looking back at Flint's daughter, Norman pulled out his phone and tossed it to Flint. "Don't act like a victim, I'm paying you after all. Enough so you can have your daughter live like a princess."

Looking at the screen, Marko saw a glimpse of a fat sum of Lien in his bank account under a false name before the Scroll was swiped out of his hands.

"But no this, Mr. Baker." Norman whispered Marko's real name. "Just as I created you, I can also destroy you and any vain attempt to help your daughter from living in the streets. If you can't help, then who will? Your ex-wife? The woman who can barely feed your little girl with her pathetic pay check. Or maybe your friend? The man you assaulted when you caught him sleeping with your wife."

Sandman tried to voice his retort when he realized that he has nothing to throw back at Norman, making Marko look away in defeat.

"What do you need, Mr. Osborn." Sandman asked, devoid of his emotions.

Pleased that he made Marko submit to his control, Norman gave Flint a piece of paper with a written number on it.

"Call this number tomorrow and you'll be given orders by one of my friends who need your assistance again. The first time with them was just a test to see how well you work with others, and you passed. Now, you need to do some more... heavy lifting."

The paper given to him soon sank in his hand as Flint looked up in time to see his boss walk away from the tree. Stopping just a few steps away from Sandman, Norman looked at Flint's daughter trying in vain to recreate her large sand castle.

"Have a nice day with your daughter, Mr. Baker. A parent should always spend some time with their children"

* * *

"I'm sorry Aunt May, I just wanted to check to see if I was working at Mr. Macarren's this weekend." Jaune apologized to his Aunt for the seventh time when he finally arrived back home.

"I know you wanted to make sure you still had work, Jaune. I just wish you'd have called me, so I didn't have to worry." Aunt May said to Jaune while following him up to his room.

"I'm sorry to make you worry." Jaune said again to a still concerned Aunt May. "But I'm sure you'd forgive me if I told you I met Blake again."

"Really?" She asked in surprise. No longer wondering why he didn't call her. "How is she? Did you two hang out? Got her number? Were you able to ask her out to the dance!?"

 _The dance is months away from now and you want me to ask Blake now?_

Jaune was hesitant on telling her that he met Blake and her team, but seeing Aunt May smiling and happy like usual made his problems nonexistent.

"We just talked and that's it. Now, if you need me, I'll be in my room. I have a chemistry test I need to study for."

"Ok, Jaune. I'll call you when dinners ready." Kissing his cheek, Aunt May walked back down to the kitchen leaving the boy all to himself.

Now that he was finally alone the young spider went to his study desk and opened his backpack to unload his essential components. Placing his jar of prototype webbing and four small vials of different colored Dust in front of him. The blonde hero opened his drawer and pulled out a ruined notebook with several of its pages about to fall out.

Gently opening the notebook, Jaune flipped to one of its tattered pages and stopped when he finally reached the design he was looking for. On the piece of paper was a rough design of an invention with several steps and parts needed for it to work. Below the diagram was his web formula he used to make his inorganic webbing followed by little side notes on what it could do.

"Ok." Taking his jar of web fluid and one vial of Dust, Jaune looked back at his notes one more time before he poured the two together. "Let's see if listening to chemistry class was worth it."

* * *

 **BAM! Next chapter is a new arsenal Jaune will have to help him take care of Sandman and his shifting ability. We also get to see who made Flint become Sandman and also know that Osborn is the one who helped Cinder with her plans. Like I promised RWBY has finally started to get more interactions with Jaune and also Ozpin now sending his best to find Spider-Man for questions.**

 **Even with Spider-Man having organic webbing it really wouldn't be a Spider-Man story without the signature web shooters Peter uses. I just added the flair of Jaune making web fluid with the added bonus of Dust from his work. We all saw how Cinder uses dust in her clothing and Hazel who injects them straight in his body. But since Jaune is still knew at using dust and that he doesn't have aura like other Huntsmen he doesn't want to have bad side effects if he chose to inject it in his own body. Jaune also asked Weiss these things because he wants to make sure dust can be fused with inorganic things so he won't be worried if it blew up in his face.**

 **Some of you might also think that you need aura to use dust told to you by wiki or google, but with dust being shown to be used to power many things that don't possess aura it can be summed up as a moot point. I would also believe that aura can be written to any property that the writer needs it to be. Like how they needed dust to power the coliseum, cars, trains, bullheads, etc. Same applies to superheroes and how each writer depicts them to have different scales of power.**

 **I know I might be missing some key items from the show and I would love it if you guys leave a comment so help me. I would appreciate it even more if you guys leave more comments followed by fav and liking my story. Thank you all for reading and the next chapter will be Jaune making his first ever web shooter and the fated return of the Sandman.**

 **Beta-Reader: Maestro Of Madness**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11 All in the Web Works

Even with crime being at an all-time low thanks to Vale's very own superhero, Spider-Man, several large businesses owners that imported their goods at the docks in Vale, such as Oscorp, the SDC, and Hammer industries were some of the few who made sure their property stayed where it's supposed to be.

"Ok, put the container over here!" Ordered the Atlas soldier guiding the crane operator to move the large container of Dust to the SCD lot. "Make sure we secure a perimeter. Keep your eyes on anyone who looks suspicious, that includes Hammer and Oscorp!"

With so many rich companies worrying about another attack from Roman and the White Fang each business owner devised to hire their own personal muscle to secure their assets and not rely on Vale's police force, much to the discomfort of the Council advising them to trust the proper authorities.

After the failed attempt to capture Roman and Spider-Man at the docks the Vale police force has lost massive credibility to their skills making people who can afford protection rely on other means for safety.

"Hey! Make sure you don't screw up the quantity! Hammer made sure he got half the docks to put in his shipments! Make sure no other riff raff uses it!" A professional Huntsman wielding a massive sword barked. Like himself other Huntsmen were scattered around their employer's property, each handpicked and paid handsomely by Hammer for security. "That includes no Oscorp or Schnee stepping foot here!"

While many well-known entrepreneurs such as the SDC have the Atlas military and Hammer industries hire veteran Huntsmen to protect their recourses the two big shots seem to have bigger troubles with each other sharing spaces than the foreign enemies they were hired to stop. Oscorp on the other hand had its own well-trained staff guarding its goods, with three on Osborn's pay roll lounging on top of one of their buyer's shipping containers looking at the other two rivals stepping on each other's boundaries rather than doing their jobs.

"Ahhh~ This is the by far the easiest job we ever took boys." The man wearing a cowboy hat said while lying on the container to take a small nap. "Just lounging around, guarding Oscorp property, and watching Hammer and SDC goons bickering nonsense."

"Yeah, this is way easier than the other jobs we're usually accustomed to, Montana." To Montana's right spoke a short man wearing a small formal suit. Looking at one of Atlas's soldier arguing with another of Hammer's hired Huntsmen the short man in the fancy suit spoke toward the third bodyguard. who was by far the largest of the two. "Then again, this is getting a bit boring. Ain't that right, Ox?"

"Yeah." Ox replied while stretching his massive frame to relax his muscles. "A job's and job though."

"Precisely! We're just getting paid for our services. We shouldn't waste our energy like these Huntsmen and Atlas soldiers who keep throwing their weight around. Just sit back and relax, Fancy Dan." Montana laid back down and used his hat to cover his face from the bright sun.

Seeing the truth in their friend's words both Fancy Dan and Ox soon followed suit in relaxing through the morning without a single bother. Taking the time to rest, the three bodyguards didn't notice that the loud noises from the Hammer and SDC soon died down as the dock went deathly silent.

Their short time reprieve was cut short when a large shadow loomed over them, causing the three men to look up to see a large sand monster tower above everyone due to its gigantic height. The silence was broken when the monster let out a bellowing wail as it started attacking both Hammer and the SCD.

"What... in... the..." The cowboy fumbled his words as he stared slack jawed at the giant intruder wreaking havoc wherever he goes.

"It's Sandman! Take him down." Ordered a high-ranking soldier. "Make sure he doesn't steal a single box of Dust from us!" As soon as he finished speaking all soldiers entered fire team formations and unleashed a hailstorm of bullets at the creature, though it had little effect as they were simply absorbed.

"Take out his legs!" Screamed the giant sword wielding Huntsman. "Hammer paid us double if we take Sandman down!" With the motivation of extra pay each Huntsmen charged head first into battle with hopes that one of them would be lucky enough to take Sandman down by themselves.

While both Atlas soldiers and trained Huntsmen fought the large sand beast, Montana and his crew only stared at the fight with none of them even moving from their resting spot.

"Shouldn't we jump in and fight?" Fancy Dan asked while keeping his eyes on the sand monster not even slowing down from the constant barrage of bullets fired by SDC military, or the brute force of several Huntsmen attacking him in all directions.

"Did you not hear me? We were hired to stay on Oscorp's lot and stand guard. They ain't from Oscorp so going to fight won't give us extra pay." Montana explained.

"Fair point. Let them waste their time and money." Ox replied in a neutral tone as he watched one of the Huntsmen on Hammer's pay roll try to hit the monster in the right leg.

Just as the large weapon hit it was quickly engulfed in Sandman's body with the owner trying with all his might to pull it out in vain. Looking down at his feet, Sandman's leg sprouted a sand tendril and swatted the Huntsmen straight to Oscorp's lot.

Being tossed aside, the trained Huntsman roughly landed back on the ground, his Aura taking most of the damage. He looked up to see the Oscorp's security still lounging on the shipping container without a single care about what that monster was doing to them.

"What are you idiots doing?" He screamed hysterically. "We can't fight this thing alone! We need help!"

As if on cue, several screams came from the mayhem. They look just in time to see a hand full of SDC security being absorbed in the sand giant's body. Even with the danger so close to them the three men hired by Osborn still didn't move a single inch from their spot.

"Look, buddy. Just like you we're getting paid to secure our respected employers property." Montana told the Hammer Huntsmen while looking back to see Sandman grab a large Dust container and encased it in his form. "It also looks like he has a beef with the SDC, though I'm pretty sure almost everyone in the four kingdoms has a grudge or two with them." Reaching for his weapon on his hip, Montana's voice soon turned in a threatening manner. "I would also advise you to stay on your side of the docks."

"What?" The weaponless Huntsmen asked before his entire body was entangled in a strong rope. "What the- Are you out of your mind!? We're supposed to fight the monster, not each other!"

"Wrong again my friend. We're getting paid to secure this lot and since you're trespassing... OX! FANCY DAN! Show him what happens when he deals with the Enforcers." The cowboy said as he handed his rope to his large friend.

"Got it." Grabbing the rope from Montana, the massive muscle man pulled the rope with enough force that the Huntsmen on the other end was sent airborne once more and heading straight towards them.

"Ox! Give me a boost!" Fancy Dan jumped on Ox's hands and was thrown directly at the Huntsmen. "Our employer doesn't like trespassers!" Changing his position in midair so his legs were aimed at his target, Fancy Dan's polished shoes met face sending the Huntsmen flying away from Oscorp territory.

"GRAAAH!" Landing head first on solid cement again, the Huntsmen's Aura barely withstood the force as he started to taste copper in his mouth. "Ugh!" Crimson liquid began to pour out of his mouth. "Hammer didn't pay me enough for this."

Thinking that the worst was past him, the downed Huntsmen looked up in time to see the sand giant about to step on him. Struggling in vain to get the rope off him, the only thing he could do was watch and scream in despair as he was about to be squished like a bug.

"SOMEONE HELP ME! AAAAAAAA-"

* * *

"-aaaahhhh~"

"Jaune, you might want to close your mouth when yawning. Or are you just trying to catch some flies for breakfast." Harry laughed as his friend gave him a playful shove for his terrible joke.

 _It does make sense, being genetically part spider. Or is that racists since I'm technically a Faunus? Oh well!_

"Yeah, I'm just feeling really tired." Jaune told his friend.

"But we just got to school, and we haven't started first period. Did you stay up or something?" Harry asked in concern.

 _Well, I had to stay up most of the night to try and perfect my web formula so when I do use it won't blow my entire hand off. Then I got only three hours of sleep, woke up again before my regular alarm clock just so I could get my parts early from Mr. Macarren's Dust shop, and then come back before Aunt May woke up so she won't ask why I was gone before school started. I could add more, but that would defeat the purpose of having a secret identity._

Knowing that he couldn't tell his friend why he was so tired, Jaune decided to give Harry a half-truth to his late-night hobby.

"I woke up really early, so I can ask if I can have another shift working at Mr. Macarren's shop." The blond teen told his friend.

"Seriously!? Jaune, I keep telling you that if you need a better job work at my dad's company. If you keep working three jobs at once you're gonna get wrinkles before you graduate."

 _Wrinkles before I graduate? I should be having wrinkles now! With trying to build my invention and fighting crime I should already be showing signs crow's feet!_

Even when Jaune was done with his inorganic web fluid, the young spider had to go through many drawings on how the web shooters will be placed. He thought that he could put them under his wrists, but soon threw the idea away when he realized it'll cover his spinnerets. He thought that he could add a trigger under his palm, but scrapped the plan when he realized the trigger would also be covering his palm.

 _Making the web fluid was the easy part. I just need to place the web shooters away from my organic ones, so I don't have to worry about mixing them up. It's like if I decided to put my shield with my sword hand. It might sound like a good idea to put them at the same hand, but when you apply it in real life it could get you injured, or worse._

"I keep telling you that working there is too much work." Jaune replied and turned around to look at Beacon academy. "I'm not sure I'd even like working there. It'd be weird enough that my boss will be your dad."

 _Not to mention completely throw off my daily schedule. I just had my routine down that I have enough free time to be Spider-Man. If I decide to take the intern ship it'd ruin my time as Spider-Man._

"Plus, I also like working at my three jobs. I get to talk to so many people with interesting things to say, I like my bosses, well two out of three, and I also get to take pictures of Spider-Man!"

"I'm not sure taking pictures of the guy will make you enough money and don't say adding those other two jobs is enough either. If you start working for my dad he can actually give a regular pay that beats all three! It can benefit you in the long run." Osborn Jr. was about to continue but gave up when his friend was still looking at the Academy.

 _I wonder what Ruby and her team are doing? Will Mr. Macarren tell them I picked up my parts early? Are they going to suspect something weird and ask me? I'm not sure I'd be able to juggle so many lies in one day._

"Jaune."

 _I could put the web shooters above my wrist, so it'd be easier to separate the two. I just need to modify the trigger so all I have to do when I need to use my Dust webs is make a reverse hand motion._

"Jaune."

 _AAAHHH! This is a lot harder then I imagined. Only a science major could've created a device like this!_

"Jaune!"

Finally snapping out of his thoughts, the blond moved his eyes away from the large clock tower and looked back to his friend, who was giving him a confused look.

"Are you ok man? You were looking at that academy longer than usual." The young Osborn wanted to ask more but was stopped when the high school's morning bell rang. "Looks like class is about to begin. Come on, I'm sure school will keep your mind busy from whatever you're thinking."

 _If only that was true. As a matter of fact, I'm wishing it'd keep everyone else busy while I start making some small tweaks to my new toys._

* * *

Like any class high school students ever had each student body had at least one subject that was by far the easiest for them to just slack off and not worry about failing. Thankfully the first class in the morning Jaune had was English with a teacher who barley paid attention to his students.

Classrooms like chemistry and math class, who had teachers that were interactive, was far more memorable for their students, including Jaune. They even put in the extra mile by decorating their own classroom with silly posters and pictures of their families on their desk to show their students who they are outside of Mid-Town High.

English class had none of those things. The class itself was sparse with the walls being completely barren, the teacher's desk had no small nick knacks or pictures to show personality, making the entire classroom feel like this was just a temporary room rather than the real thing. The only notable objects were the big bookshelf holding English textbooks, a clock on the wall, and a blank chalk board that looks like it hasn't been used at all.

"Ok, you all need to read chapters 5 through 20 and write a summery for each chapter." Jaune's English teacher told his class in a bored voice.

Even the teacher had no personality, only sitting at his desk with nothing but his school monitor and key board. As a matter of fact, Jaune's been in this classroom for several months now and he still can't remember his first period teacher's name yet. It was as if the teacher was just here to look after the kids until schools over.

 _Now that I look at him, this classroom does show his personality. Nothing at all!_

As he started talking about today's subject more than half of the class lost interest with a few talking to their friend next to them, texting on their Scrolls, even testing the teacher's limit by falling asleep during the lesson. Harry was one of them who used his large English text book to block the teacher's view of him as he slowly closed his eyes and took a nap with Jaune having no one else to talk too.

"If I see you fooling around you'll be sent to detention."

 _See us? A hand full us are sleeping while you're just staring at your computer screen._

Even if Jaune may not be talking to his classmates, or taking a nap, he's still in the latter category of not doing his class work. The sole reason for this was the two bracelets in front of him with the hardcover English book hiding his little side project.

 _Ok, I just need to place the trigger on the back of my hand and when I push my fist down the mechanism will push the web fluid out._

The hero in disguise should've been worried about being spotted by his fellow students, especially since he was working on something that he'll be using when he's Spider-Man. Yet with so many preferring to look at what's on their Scroll and some starting to close their eyes the blonde spider doubted he'd get unwanted attention.

Connecting the small piece to the bracelet, Jaune couldn't stop smiling as he finally completed his web shooters. Lifting one of his wrist mounted web shooter, Jaune looked at all sides to make sure he didn't leave anything that could cause a malfunction.

 _The original design was having the trigger and the web nozzle be under my wrist, but that'd cover my spinnerets making it hard for me to try and use my organic webs then my fake ones separately._

Taking some time to think around the problem, the young blonde had the idea to place it on top of his hand making it easier to separate the two if ever he needs one and not the other. Scanning the metal bracelet, Jaune placed his web shooter on his arm to test how tight it was so he could adjust the fitting and won't cut off his circulation.

 _Hhmmm... It fits nice, but it's still covering my organic web shooter. I know!_

Taking off the metal band he pinched a piece of the steel that was covering his organic webbing and bent it out wards. After bending it with a bit of his super strength, Jaune placed it on his wrist again and looked to see if his small adjustment worked out to his liking.

 _Much better! Now I don't have to worry about my original webbing being completely covered by the equipment._

"Now for the final piece." Rummaging through his backpack he fished out a small curved square piece with a white spider symbol at the center.

Sliding the cartridge into the empty chamber on top of his web shooter he pushed it forward and was greeted by compressed air escaping. Waiting a couple of seconds to see any noticeable changes, Jaune checked another mark in his mind that another task has been complete.

 _Sweet! All I have to do to use it is wear my costume on top of the sensitive button and when I push my hand down the fabric of my suit should apply enough pressure to eject the web_.

As Jaune was marveling at his little invention his curiosity got the best of him when he decided to test how sensitive the button was.

 **FWIP!**

"EEP!" Jaune quickly pulled his hand away from his web shooter when a thin strand of webbing left the small nozzle and landed right above him on the ceiling.

 _I just lightly tapped it and it shot out so quickly. Well, at least I know I don't have to apply too much pressure._

As soon as the web attached itself to something the soft strand stiffened completely freezing the small web line with part of the surface that was close around it slowly being covered in ice.

 _Woah! It just latched onto something and it already became solid ice. Man these Dust things are no joke. I'm kinda glad I didn't decide to use Dust on myself or else I'd be a spider statue._

After hearing what the Heiress said about the dangers of Dust, Jaune thanked his lucky stars that he used up all the Dust he had to make his web cartridges and not himself. Looking at the clock above the still distracted teacher's head to show that English class was about to end, he unlatched the web launcher from his arm and placed them back securely in his back pack before everyone started to wake up from their small nap.

The last one to open their eyes was Harry who extended both arms above his head and opened his mouth to let out a huge yawn. Wiping away some small eye crust that was forming under his eyes, the young rich teen looked across the class room to see if any changes happened when he was asleep.

"What'd I miss?" Was his question aimed at no one in particular followed by the class bell telling every student to get to their next class.

"You know." Looking above his head Jaune could still see the ice web holding in place. "Just boring stuff we usually do in class."

* * *

The rest of the school day started to pick up with every teacher giving out their usual insight in their subject. Jaune, on the other hand, kept writing down notes about other combinations of his webbing and other properties that could be used with Dust. Though he took his crime fighting seriously he made sure to at least take notes and finish his class work before he went back to his web notes just to make sure he kept his grades up so the teachers won't get curious as to why he was falling behind.

One class he made sure to pay extra attention to was chemistry. Now that he has the formula down the spider teen was more confident in making it without the fear of a chemical reaction. Mixing the same contents he used the first time in another beaker, Jaune mixed it together with a stirring rod and waited to see the compound finally turn into a white paste. Checking another thing off his imaginary to do list Jaune pulled out a Tupperware bowl he got from a random dollar store, opened the plastic cover, and poured the liquid into the new container.

 _Have to make sure the lid stays on tight or else the air will get in and solidify the webs before I can mix it with the Dust. I'd hate to see my hard work be wasted when I open it again and see a solid cube shaped web._

Getting the liquid out of the first container he immediately sealed the Tupperware and shoved it back in his school bag just in time to hear the final bell ringing.

 _Thank goodness schools over. Maybe if I'm in luck I might catch Ruby and her team picking up her parts at Mr. Macarren's shop._

The thought of that encounter happening in real life made the hero perk up and found himself even more motivated to leave school. Taking his school supplies off the table and back in his bag, the hooded hero was just about ready to leave with his friends when all of a sudden, the same two girls he heard from yesterday were still sitting at their chemistry table.

It was never really odd to see some students stay behind class to talk to the teacher, what was odd that they had a Scroll in front of them. He thought that they were watching another one of him saving someone in trouble, but thankfully the Scroll's volume was on high so he was able to hear what they were watching.

"We are here at the docks, the same place where the White Fang attack was first spotted in a massive attempt to steal Dust from the SDC when luckily the hero, Spider-Man, swung by and stopped them from following through with their plan. Now we're here again with over a dozen heavily injured Atlas military and Huntsmen who were protecting the docks when all of a sudden a large sand monster attacked the SDC and Hammer industries."

While the reporter was speaking the two girls began their usual gossip.

"Oh my gosh! My dad works at the docks! I didn't get a phone call yet, you think he's alright?!" The girl said as her body began to shake in fear.

"Don't worry," Her friend place a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure he's fine. Wait- I think the reporter's saying something important!"

Looking back at the screen both girls stayed silent as the news reporter started talking in a more urgent manner.

"My news team just informed me that this monster is the same villain that was on the Bugle's newspaper today calling him: The Sandman." The scroll was silent for a moment before it started to blare up again. "And just like the name in tales he seems to have a Semblance that can control sand giving us a good example as to how he was able to sneak attack security and disappear with half a dozen containers without a trace. If anyone is able to spot him make sure you call the authorities and get as far away from danger."

With that final message given by the news, the owner of the Scroll paused the video and looked back to her still shaking classmate.

"I'm sure he's fine."

"I hope he is." She said in a hushed tone followed by a scathing comment. "I can't believe they couldn't stop him. I thought Altus military was supposed to have better weapons then the rest of the kingdoms."

"I know what you mean. Even the Huntsmen were useless, and they're trained to deal with Grimm larger then themselves. I'm sure if Spider-Man was there he would've handled it all on his own."

"You're right. I just wish he was there in time, so he could have stopped Sandman."

Getting out of their chairs both girls left the room, leaving only Jaune standing still with a defeated expression on his face.

 _I did fight him once and he totally wiped the floor with me. If skilled soldiers and Huntsmen couldn't stop him how would I have been much help to fight Marko?_

Pushing his backpack higher in his shoulder, Jaune left the classroom and started his slow trek down to his locker.

 _The worst part is that Flint started this crime while I was still being Jaune Arc! I can't just suddenly excuse myself from school every time I hear about something bad happening to Vale or else the people I'm close to will put things together that Spider-Man and Jaune Arc are the same!_

Not even paying attention to his surrounds when he finally reached his locker. Harry and Gwen remained silent and waited for their blonde classmate to finally notice he wasn't alone.

"Jaune? Remnant to Mr. Arc, your friends are talking to you." Harry snapped his fingers to gain his friend's attention with no response.

"Ok, I've had enough." Without warning Gwen stepped closer to Jaune's left side and screamed in his ear. "JAUNE!"

"AAHHH!" Taking a step back from panic the scared teen looked between his friends before speaking. "Gwen!? Harry!? When did you guys show up?"

"We've been here before you arrived, dork." The part time camp counselor looked at her watch and back at her friend. "I just stayed here so I can tell you the great news."

"What great news?" Jaune asked her.

"I got the job!" She said with a bit of bravado. "You are now looking at Mr. Conner's new lab assistant!"

 _You got the job? A science job? I thought you'd be his desk worker._

"I know that look, Jaune." Harry said trying to hold his laughter. "And here I thought Gwen was just going to get another job rejection."

Not able to hold his snickering, Gwen gave Harry a nasty look in his direction then looked back down to her watch.

"Anyway, I'm about to start so I'll let you guys know how it went down tomorrow. See ya!"

Departing from her small group to start her first day as a lab assistant the two boys walked out of school intending to enjoy the rest of their day.

"My old man has to deal with some business at work, so I got the rest of the day to myself! What do you say we go watch a movie?"

"Is it something to do with the docks?"

"Who knows, he never really talks about work when he comes home. But enough about that, you up to see a movie?"

"Sorry, Harry." The secret hero said regretfully. "The shift I talked about this morning is today. I need to go straight there."

That was until Jaune remembered what the news says about the docks making the blonde boy hate that he has to lie to his best friend.

"Oh." The wealthy teen didn't even complain after he heard Jaune going to work. "Then I'll go back home. See ya at school tomorrow, Jaune." Walking away before Jaune could say good bye Harry left the young hero alone, silently hating himself for lying once again to someone he cares about.

 _I'm sorry Harry, but right now you and everyone in the kingdom need Spider-Man. Jaune can wait for now._

Walking to a vacant area around school, Jaune took to the locker room to change to his outfit. Now leaving as his hero alter ego, Spider-Man scooped up his belongings, jumped up on the wall of his school, and started to climb his way to the roof.

Doing another area sweep to make sure no one else was here, the web head threw his back pack underneath the school's massive metal ventilation pipes and shot a small web to keep it in place.

"Ok," Making sure both of his web shooters were placed securely on top of his costume while also keeping the firing button under his gloves, Spider-Man walked to the edge of the school and stared to Sandman's last location. "Time to go play in the sand."

* * *

"I see that you made it." Roman Torchwick commented when he saw a pile of sand moving around his secret hide out. "Does that mean you're done for the day?"

The sand soon stopped and began forming back into its original shape of a brooding Sandman.

"I still have a job to do. Right now I'm just dropping off what we got at the docks." Flint told his former boss. "The Dust is outside being taken in by the White Fang."

"I see her kids are with you too." Roman eyed her servants wearily as the two teens were talking to themselves at an empty part of the warehouse.

"They were useful to the heist. How else was I able to escape from security without the help of those two? The White Fang also helped, but only to get extra Dust that I couldn't steal."

"Glad they can be of some use other than cannon fodder." The stylish thief looked behind his ex-lackey to see some of his boys help the White Fang take in large crates of Dust. "Even if they have less members thanks to the spider they still have some blind followers to give us."

Roman also did his part in trying to recruit as many Faunus to the White Fang as he could, but with so many now siding with the hero he was lucky enough to get at least two dozen or so when he had the opportunity. But if what Cinder gave him just a few nights ago as a gift to show the Faunus as a means to sway them on their side he has no doubt more will come.

"You know, if you're done taking all that Dust maybe you can help me on something?"

"What do you have in mind?" Flint asked.

"Well, I'm just about to get some more Faunus to join the White Fang and it'd go by even better if you showed up." Seeing that Flint was giving him a skeptic look, Roman explained further. "I mean, the present she gave me is great and all, but you're much better. I'm even more surprised you didn't decide to hit it solo and do your own thing with a Semblance like yours."

"Heh." Sandman smirked at what Roman said, making the thief angry that someone that used to be a nobody thinks he's better then him. "Semblance... right. I'm not doing this for lien or power."

"Really? Then why are you still here? Someone like you could easily walk away from all this and fight off whatever they might throw at you. Why stay?"

Roman's questioned was never answered as Cinder's two minions walked up and interrupted their private talk.

"Sandman, we got another mission for you. Let's go." Mercury told him and walked away followed by his partner.

"Can't you two kiddies see that we're having an important discussion." Torchwick pointed the end of his cane at the two teens. "I thought your leader taught you proper manners."

"Sorry, Roman." Emerald spoke in a sickly-sweet voice. "But we were taught to never let the elderly hold us back."

"Old huh? Then let me teach- ergh!" Just as Roman was about to lift his cane higher in the air, Flint's hand morphed into sand and completely encased his weapon. Giving his former boss a threatening glare, Flint returned his limb to normal and turned his sights on his two temporary partners.

"Let's get this over with." Sandman told them with the green haired girl leading their way to the next destination.

"Looks like break times over." Following behind the two assassins, Flint turned around and gave Roman one last statement. "Unlike you, Roman, I'm not just doing this for myself." With his business finished he walked out of the warehouse to finish his dept to Osborn.

 _Wait for me, sweetie. I promise I'll come back and help you make your perfect sand castle._

* * *

 **I know, you all expected a show down between Sandman and Spider-Man, but I don't want it to end that quickly. A fight like this will probably span another chapter or two, but I'm sure you guys will enjoy the fight. For now, this chapter is a start to what is really about to go down and also starts to show more characters in to my story. One of them is the Enforcers, a trio of highly skilled fighters that Spider-Man fought in the beginning of his carrier. Most of you may also know that they work for The Big Man a character that will also be in the spot light, but probably later so for now they are just working for Osborn as protection.**

 **Another thing I added is Hammer industries, a company in the Iron Man franchise, so Iron Man is confirmed to be meeting with Spider-Man soon. The reason he is not showing up is because I don't want to rush the story, Jaune still needs to fight his first supervillain before he meets Iron Man.**

 **The web shooters have the same design as Ben Reilly he visibly wears for his costume, but I made Jaune make dust webbing first before impact webbing. I made sure Jaune made the web shooters because he is still not sure about the entire properties as Huntsmen and also since he doesn't want to have any other foreign things injected in his body. After all, he was bitten with a spider so he is uncertain if adding dust will be a good idea. I even made sure that each cartridge is labeled to different colored spiders to make sure he doesn't get confused.**

 **And also this chapter shows about how crime is effecting Jaune while still being a civilian. That is another thing that makes him different with the rest of RWBY, Jaune is a 'normal' teen who goes to regular school, but they are Huntsmen-in-training so the do not worry about their identity. Spider-Man couldn't help people since Jaune Arc is busy with his life and at the same time Jaune can't lie and ditch the people he knows or else they will know he is Spider-Man. And like all Spider-Man comics and movies shows us is that it's hard being Spider-Man. Hope you guys like this chapter and the next one will be Spider-Man going to the docks and Sandman doing another heist, with a surprise group of people who meets him.**

 **If I am leaving any other unanswered question please feel free to comment and leave a fav and like!**

 **Like always the Beta Reader is Maestro Of Madness!**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12 Sand Trail

 **Hello everyone, sorry if I didn't put this out sooner, but this month is a kind of my vacation and I will get some chapters out on Sunday or every other Sunday. Hop you like this chapter and have a happy Valentines day!**

* * *

"Ok," Making sure both of his web shooters were placed securely on top of his costume while keeping the firing button under his gloves, Spider-Man walked to the edge of the school and stared at Sandman's last location. "Time to play in the sand."

Shooting an organic web to a high building across his school, Spider-Man jumped off and used his momentum to swing from building to building while looking down to the people below, making sure nothing bad happens before he reaches the docks to begin his search for Sandman.

While our young hero starts his search for Flint he passed people going about their daily work. Two in particular, a blonde monkey Faunus talking to his friend with bright blue undercut hair wearing a red jacket, were walking on the side walk talking about their first day at Beacon.

"Well, how'd ya like it? Told you they were pretty cool!" Sun spoke next to his partner, Neptune Vasilias, about meeting Blake and her friends.

"Yeah, I admit, they're cool. Especially that white haired girl." Neptune said while passing a hand through his hair. "She was totally into me."

"S-sure, man." Sun took a moment to remember how his friend tried to flirt with Ruby's partner at the library. But instead of his usual charm he put with any girl that caught his interest, Weiss seemed repulsed at his vain attempt at trying to complement her. Sun was kinda glad that he didn't have to run interference in case she might see Neptune do the same trick with another girl later.

"I mean, the way she looked when I told her she was a snow angel. I'm pretty sure she's totally falling for me."

 _'And you'll be falling in your grave if you decide to try to do the same with her team. I'm sure if you decided to go after Ruby her older sister won't leave anything of you to be remembered.'_

"But enough about me, dude. How was your advances with Blake?" The goggle wearing boy asked. "You told me so many times about her I thought when I meet her she was already dating you. She didn't look away from her Scroll the entire time I was there making my moves on that cute pony tail chick."

 _'More like annoying her.'_

The leader of Neptune's team wanted to say that out loud, but kept his mouth shut. After all, he had to give his friend credit for even trying. Unlike himself and his failings to catch Blake's attention. He thought that after the fight at the docks Blake would be better at being more social since her secret was known to the rest of her team, but it just made her more antisocial and less talkative. Even less talkative before the docks. All she did was stick to her Scroll whenever she got a message or call, then sleep.

"She was just busy with something." Sun tried to explain why she wasn't interactive with him when he tried to talk to her.

"Blake seems like she needs sleep. I practically saw the bags under her eyes from across the table." Neptune looked away from his friend and checked out two Mid Town high school girls wearing matching Spider-Man T-shirts. Just when they were about to pass them, the blue haired boy gave the girls a wink making the regular High school girls blush and giggle.

 _'I love training to be a Huntsmen.'_

Though he may be training to be someone that fights dangerous Grimm and keeps the kingdom and her people safe. Neptune couldn't help but always flaunt his status whenever he could when it came to the opposite sex. Everyone knew that if you saw someone who looked like they came from a fashion magazine a good chance was that they'd be a Huntsmen. Mostly the ones who are training to become one. In the past Huntsmen were more conservative with how they acted when they went out, but it seems that the newer generations of Huntsmen appear more like a fashion statement then a boring profession.

Civilians just knew what a Huntsmen looked like due to their physique and how colorful they dressed out in the public. Another way they knew was that Huntsmen always carried a weapon on their body at all time, even the students in training. With so many positives in being a Huntsmen Neptune couldn't help but be gun ho in dreaming to become one.

Not to mention the bonus of being a Huntsmen-In-Training gave him the confidence to use that status to gain a small fan base of girls who adore him. In fact, his entire team had their own little fan group that dedicated themselves like fan girls to boy bands.

From the way they look, dress, and acted gave team SSSN a good reputation back at their school. Now they're here with only half of the team at Beacon and already they're starting to get a reputation. Neptune thought that this place would be another claim under their belts with all the regular girls falling for them, but the rate of followers was a fraction of how many they had back at Haven academy. The reason was the so called 'Superhero' popping up in every news, talk shows, and even some on their own fan site.

"You think she's one of those 'Spider Fans'?" The human teen asked.

"What?" Sun lifted his eyebrow in confusion.

"You know, Spider Fan. I keep seeing people online showing how they love Spider-Man. Maybe she has her eyes on the web head."

"That can't be right." The monkey Faunus denied. "I fought alongside him. He's cool and he seems pretty down to Remnant."

"Yeah. You told me. Like seventeen times!" After the crime at the docks, Sun started to talk about how he fought alongside the hero in stopping the White Fang and Roman from stealing Dust whenever he had the chance. He even became an instant celebrity the next day to the citizens of Vale with some people going right up to him and asking how he was able to meet the web head.

"I think she's just doing some personal things." Sun gave his friend a stern look. "And if she's a Spider Fan then so am I! The guy was awesome! I saw him do some sick tricks when fighting. You should've seen him! He was like 'POW!' 'WHAM!' 'BOOM!' It was so cool."

The possess the Faunus did while telling his friend how Spider-Man fought caused several unwanted stares to come their way. Not liking the weird looks people were giving them, Neptune waved his hands to stop his leader when his saw a fast-moving object over shadow him from above.

"Huh?" Looking to see what that was, the red jacket boy was able to see the signature red and blue colored hero swing past them and left his field of vision when he turned right down another street.

"Dude." Uttered a single word left from Neptune's lips.

"Hiyaa!" The monkey Faunus made another weird pose, completely oblivious to the fact that his best friend just saw Spider-Man swing over their heads.

Slapping the back side of Sun's head, Neptune made his friend look at the direction he saw Spider-Man was last seen just a couple of seconds ago. "Dude! I just saw the guy do the web thing!"

"What thing, Neptune?" Sun rubbed the area where Neptune hit him. "Make some sense man."

"Spider-Man!" Random bystanders nearby looked to the two Huntsman in interest.

"SPIDER-MAN!" Sun's screaming attracted the attention of people across the street. "Where?"

"I saw him swing that way!" Neptune pointed at the street the web slinger turned. "Where do you think he went?"

"Duh!" The team leader smacked his forehead. "The docks! He must've wanted to investigate that sand dudes attack this morning! Let's go!"

Neptune hesitated at the idea of trying to spy on the masked hero. Add in the possibility of the cops stopping them for suspicious activity and his anxiety was through the roof.

"I'm not sure, Sun. What if we get in trouble. The guy's Spider-Man, I'm sure he can handle himself." Neptune tried to reason with his partner.

"Don't worry about them, Neptune." Sun placed his arm around Neptune's shoulders. "We're Huntsman."

"Huntsman-In-Training." He corrected him.

"Same thing. We're supposed to do things like this. Besides, the police didn't arrest us last time I was at the docks.

"You were a stowaway!"

"We'll just get a slap on the wrist and let the academy worry about it." Not wasting any more time, Sun pushed his partner in the direction of where the hero was going. "Let's go! Maybe if we find something useful we could do a team up with Spider-Man!"

"You sound way too motivated for this!"

"That's because we're going to do a superhero team up, Neptune. I thought a nerd like you would be in to this!"

"Intellectual!" As soon as the two ran to the docks, the people who heard the commotion started to go in a media frenzy when they heard that their local hero was there.

"Did they say they saw Spider-Man?"

"I gotta message this to my sis! She works across from the docks!"

"Finally! Maybe now we don't have to worry now that Spider-Man's here!"

"If Atlas and Huntsmen couldn't stop Sandman, then Spider-Man's our only hope!"

"Those two Huntsmen said that Spidey was going to the docks. Let's go check it out!"

People began heading to the docks, some even using their Scrolls to message their friends and family to be at the docks to watch the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man in action. One man wearing a simple tweed suit and glasses was smart enough to grab his Scroll from his pocket and dialed a number to tell his boss the important news.

"J.J! You're not going to believe this!"

* * *

Last time Spider-Man was at the docks was when he had to help Blake stop the White Fang from doing something that they'd never return from. He was able to help them, but it still ended in a big gun fight with Roman escaping and Mr. Pesto's nephew dead. The memory of his dying words was still fresh in his mind, but Spider-Man had to force the image in the back of his mind and focused on the current situation.

The damage from the White Fang attack had left the docks in a complete mess, taking over a month to finish the clean-up. The attack this morning from Sandman made the assault from the White Fang look like a day at the beach compared to what he did.

What was once an organized establishment was now a complete wreck, like a category 2 hurricane swept the entire docks. Spider-Man can see how extensive the disaster was with thrown shipping cargos all over the place and knocked over cargo cranes. The large imprints of feet confirmed that Sandman did more the just steal Dust.

 _'This much chaos. The first time I met him he completely overpowered me. But after seeing this I think he was just toying with me instead of taking me seriously.'_

"Don't chicken out now, Spidey." He shook his head to get over the negative thoughts swirling over him. "You're here now, you gotta figure out where Sandman is. A big guy like him had to have been sloppy enough to leave some clue around here."

Jumping off the docks warehouse the hero made his way over to a nearby shipping crate. Spider-Man landed on the side of the large container and wall crawled downward to start his search on foot. A man like Flint made the docks a maze with how unorganized the area was, but what made it even weirder for the wall crawler was despite how much destruction there was he couldn't find a trace of sand anywhere. Searching for what seemed to be forever the hero jumped on one of Hammer's cargo crate and looked around the crime scene in a complete stump.

"This is just weird. Subtlety isn't Flint's strong suit, it should be impossible to lose sight of a literal sand giant." The only thing that could explain this would be... "Oh. Duh! That green haired girl!" Spider-Man snapped his fingers when he remembered the girl from the bookstore. "Oh no, not her."

It was now obvious that it was her Semblance that allowed Sandman to escape by using illusions. When he was able to grab enough Dust, chances were that he needed some help trying to leave with so much heat on his heels. The best bet was she was hidden away somewhere and used a decoy, so everyone would fight an illusion giving Flint enough time to transfer the Dust somewhere else and disappear in a clean getaway.

 _'Now I need to worry if I have to fight Flint along with Greenie. Best bet the guy who does the kicking will be with them too.'_

"This was a waste of time." Spider-Man let out a frustrated sigh. "He's probably somewhere else stealing more Dust. I knew I shoulda- Huh?"

 _'Spider sense is going off. But there's no danger anywhere? now my spider powers are going out of control too?'_

The hooded hero looked for any trace of danger, but when he looked towards Oscorp's lot his spider sense started to get worse. "Whatever my spider sense is picking up is probably the closest thing to a clue I have." Jumping from crate to crate the spider hero stopped when his spider sense started to flair even more. "Might as well follow whatever I'm picking up."

Like playing a game of hot and cold the closer he got the more intense the spider sense became. Spider-Man thought that if this kept going his skull would split in two from the pressure, but when he thought the worst was over it soon became easier when he saw what his spider sense was picking up.  
"A helmet?" Spider-Man picked up the reason for his discomfort. "It looks like it has been damaged, but why is it making my senses go haywire?"

Looking over the helmet he spotted a small built in head set inside with a small dial attached. Turning the knob to the max, the blonde spider instantly dropped it and fell to his knees from terrible pain.

 ** _'AAAAAHHHHH! GOT TO TURN IT OFF!'_**

"GAH!" Shooting a small web to the helmet he tugged it closer to him and turned the knob down, allowing his spider sense to finally stop pounding in his head. "Geez!" Ripping the small radio from the helmet, Spider-Man was about to break it into pieces but stopped after an idea came to mind.

 _'I didn't know my spider sense could pick up radio frequency, maybe I could use this somehow.'_

His idea of using the item had to be set aside however, as he was too busy looking over the device he noticed something that made his search finally bear fruit. Flipping the military gear right side up a small amount of sand poured out, creating a small mound at his feet.

"Well, this just proves that Flint was here." He deadpanned. "They were probably having the same reaction I get when I first fought him." Just when he thought that it was normal sand the small mound started to move, causing the spider to take a step back from surprise. "Whoa!" He flailed his arms in a panicked manner. "What the heck! You're still moving?!"

The sand didn't talk, but mindlessly shifted itself away from the hero to join the rest of it's being. Seeing that this was the clue he needed, Spider-Man fired a web to stop the sand, but also made sure it was able to stop Sandman from moving.

 _ **FWIP!**_

His aim was true, and a thin thread of web fluid mixed itself to the sand. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to be working but as the sand moved away it became slower and slower. Ice started to emerge out of the sand, bringing it to a dead halt.

"It works!" Spidey raised his arms in the air in victory. "I'm awesome!"

Walking over to grab the incased ice, he raised it to his face and examined the trapped sand for anything that could lead him to Flint. Pointing it at the direction leading to the city the trapped sand started to shake within the ice, giving Spider-Man the perfect compass to lead him to Sandman.

"At least I know where he is, but I'm worried what he's doing now. Got to catch up to him so he won't cause any more da-" Spider-Man's monologue was stopped when his spider sense flared up again. Not knowing what to expect he prepared for anything..

 _'Spider sense! The COMM link is off, so that means actual trouble! And it's telling me that they're right behind me.'_

Trusting his instinct on the matter, the blonde hero turned around and shot two web lines at the targets and pulled the lines to reveal who the assailants were.

"Oof!"

"Aah!"

What Spider-Man thought would be Roman's thugs, or the White Fang trying to ambush him, he was instead greeted by the same Monkey Faunus he encountered with Blake at the diner and a new guy with bright blue hair.

 _'I know the shirtless guy is Sun, but who's the guy with the goggles?'_

"H-hey spider dude." Sun said nervously as his back was on the cold cement floor and staring up at Spider-Man's white compound eyes.

"Sun? What are yo-" The hero placed a fist near his mouth and cleared his throat. "What are you doing here?" He asked the two new arrivals in a deep voice.

"He actually knows your name." The blue haired boy said in astonishment. "Here I thought you just made it up that you actually talked to him."

"Told you, dude." Sun got back on his feet and helped his friend. "Me and Spidey are best friends now after the fight with the White Fang."

 _'I only say you once as Jaune and had no conversation with you as Spider-Man. How did I become your friend? And even then you were mostly paying attention to Blake the entire time.'_

"You didn't answer my question." Spider-Man spoke again in a deep voice. "Why are you here?"

"U-uh we just wanted to see what you were planning to do to find that sand guy." Neptune explained, surprised that someone who looked around their height had such a deep and menacing voice. "We saw you web swinging here and decided to follow you."

 _'Of course, they spotted me during broad day light. And if they saw me then that means more people will know I'm here too.'_

With what he came for now in his possession, the hero made a make shift sling using his webbing to wrap around the imprisoned sand. He then placed it over his shoulder and tried to web swing back to the city but stopped to look at the two Huntsmen still standing there.

"Go home."

"What?!" The two Huntsmen-In-Training said at the same time.

"We can help!" The monkey Huntsman reasoned. "I fought at the docks too, so you know I can handle myself. Me and my friend are Huntsman for crying out loud, this is something we do."

"You might need our help. After all, wherever you might go the bad guys might set a trap for you." The boy with goggles added his own reason to join the hero.

"Ok first off." Spider-Man looked directly at Sun. "You guys are not Huntsman, you two are students so you shouldn't even be here."

 _'Of course, I don't know if that's allowed or not since I'm not a student at Beacon, but I'm sure that these two are at least trespassing. Then again, I'm also trespassing but the people of Vale at least know why I'm doing this.'_

"And secondly." He turned his gaze at the boy with bright blue hair. "I'm sorry, but do I even know you?"

"I'm Neptune." He grumbled under his breath, sad that his team leader didn't tell Spider-Man his name.

"Sure. And the second reason is who I'm tracking down." He lifted the still frozen ice statue. "It's someone you don't want to fight. If you guys watched the news then you should know that he sent a lot of professional Huntsmen to the hospital. So, if you think that since you have Aura and a Semblance you might think you're untouchable, but you're not. The guy's dangerous and you two aren't ready to fight him."

 _'I know this because I couldn't beat him. They may be training to fight Grimm, but Flint is far more dangerous.'_

"Now, you guys need to go back an-" For the second time Spider-Man sensed another presence nearby and automatically turned to face the danger.

"Um, Spider-Man." Neptune asked out of curiosity. "What are you doing?"

 _'This feeling is way worse than when I sensed Sun and his friend. Oh no, it's already starting!'_

"Get down!" Pushing the two teens to the ground in time a small tranq zoomed passed them, missing its target and puncturing solid cement. With the danger still present, Spider-Man sprung back on his feet and looked at the direction from where the tranq was fired.

"Now!" Shouted an Atlas shoulder standing on top of a high stack of Oscorp property.

As commanded half-a-dozen Atlas soldiers started coming out of the shadows and quickly surrounding them, their weapons trained and rifles pointing at the main target.

"Spider-Man!" The first solider who fired shouted. "You are under arrest! Come quietly with your hands up."

"ME!?" The hero shouted while several red dots were hovering around his face. Some of which were making his eyes blur due to being aimed at his mask's compound lenses. "What about them?" Spider-Man pointed his finger to the two Huntsmen who looked at the hero like he sold them out. "What? Now you guys don't want to help me?"

"Enough talking!" The fire team leader screamed. "Surrender now and we won't use severe force. Your side kicks will be detained for further questions."

"Sidekicks!?" Neptune sounded offended. "Hold on, we are not his si-" He was about to say more but stopped when some of the red dots shifted to him. "Ok, ok! We're his sidekicks!"

Not wanting to have them in any more danger, Spider-Man stepped in front of the two teens, so all the weapons were aimed at him again. "Why are you doing this?" He asked. "Shouldn't you guys be more worried about Sandman? He's still at large and you're wasting your effort on me?"

"We are aware of what threat Sandman possess. But our orders are to capture you and take you in, so we may ask you questions after we arrive in Atlas."

 _'Atlas!? I may be wearing a hoodie, but that doesn't mean my costume will keep me from freezing.'_

"Take me in? Like to the police?" Spider-Man's eyes widened under his mask. "Does Vale police know you're doing this? I thought the Council placed the honor to them for my arrest, not you guys."

 _'Now that I think about it. There's not enough people to try and arrest me like at the docks. Are these soldiers here from Atlas? Does the Council know?'_

"Enough questions!" The leader raised his arms, signaling his men to get ready to capture him. "Be sure to shoot if he moves."

 _'Looks like I'll have get ready to escape. But how am I going to help Sun and his friend too? Come on, Jaune! Think of something to get out of this mess!'_

"This is a final warning to stand do-" Before he could finish the Atlas operative was caught in a lasso and forcefully pulled away from the group. The remaining soldiers were surprised to see that their leader was taken out by an unknown threat.

For five long seconds the entire area was quiet. Not a single person moved a muscle as they waited for the taken Atlas operative to respond. That silence was shattered when they heard their fire team leader start to shout in pain, causing the rest to wonder if they should find him or stay on target to take Spider-Man.

 _'Ok, something tells me danger's here. And I didn't need to have my spider sense tell me.'_

"AAAHH!" They didn't have to choose as their leader was thrown back in the circle, landing at Spider-Man's feet. His arms and legs were tied together behind his back, his helmet removed showing a massive swollen eye, and knocked unconscious leaving the group to wonder who did this to him.

"Well this is a surprise." A man wearing a cowboy hat said while walking from his hiding spot, casually swinging his lasso around. "Thought you guys would be back at your kingdom, cutting your losses like ya'll usually do. But here you are in one place, like fish in the barrel. NOW!"

That one word seemed to trigger their military training causing them to snap in to action. When they heard the man speak the riflemen aimed their weapons away from the hero and onto the new intruder. Just when they were about to shout at him to surrender the squad as ambushed from the rear by another assailant. With all weapons pointed at one target it was easy enough for the attacker to take them by surprise.

"To slow!" The small statured brawler said as he overwhelmed three armed men with his quick footing and powerful leg strikes.

The remaining men tried to help their brothers in arms, but were stopped when another man, twice the size of any full-grown man, lifted an Atlas soldier high in the air and threw him with enough force to knock the rest of the Atlas soldiers as if they were bowling pins.

 _'Woah... those guys took them down without breaking a sweat. Who the heck are these guys?'_

While both the small guy wearing a suit and big silent man were busy doing their jobs attacking anyone who entered their employer's lot, their leader stopped twirling his rope and stared at the silent hero still frozen in place.

"Spider-Man?" The cowboy looked at the hero from top to bottom. "Thought you looked more... spidery from all the tales I heard from you. Fancy Dan! Ox!"

Calling out their names, the two stopped their small rampage on the beaten Atlas personnel and walked back to their leader. With the two skilled fighters behind their leader's back, the lariat user crossed his arms in front of his chest and spoke again to the hero.

"As you can see, Spider-Man. Me and my associates here were just doing our job by protecting this here lot owned by Mr. Osborn." The cowboy took his hat off and placed it over his chest, "The name's Montana and you already know who my friends are."

 _'Pretty sure the guys you beaten up also know you are guys are too.'_

"What the! Why did you guys do that!?" Sun finally snapped out of his stupor and glared at them.

"Sun!" Neptune gritted his teeth and whispered to his friend. "Stop talking to the people who just tore through special Atlas operatives like they were nothing."

"Ha, ha, ha, ha!" The Monkey Faunus got angrier at their complete dismissal of him. "Boy, you of all should know the answer." Montana pointed at the groaning solider. "We're defending Osborn's lot and the fellows, plus you three, are trespassing. We're just doing our job. Like you and your blue haired friend will when you get older."

"That doesn't give you the right to do this kind of thing." Sun argued.

"Enough!" Spider-Man turned back at Sun and Neptune. "We're not here to argue. Just trying to find Sandman."

The hero hoped reason could give them a good excuse to get out of here and not waste his time fighting. As much as he didn't want too, the soldier gave the hero warning signals after hearing what they were planning to do when he was captured.

 _'If these people are taking me to Atlas, then they're probably doing this without the Council's say so. So many problems in one day is too much for me. I have to focus on taking down Sandman. Lesser of the two evils and all that jazz'_

"Sorry, bug, but we ain't letting you leave." Montana nodded to the side giving the silent order for his team to surround Spider-Man and his two tag along. "We're hired to fight anyone who's in Osborn's lot. And since you're here, that means we have the right to protect this here property."

"This is not what I thought would happen when I joined in on a Superhero's adventure." The blue haired Huntsman pulled out his rifle and took a ready position aimed at the biggest target in front of him.

"I wouldn't have it any other way!" Sun flipped his nun chucks to get himself ready in case his short statured opponent tried any funny business.

As the four squared off to fight each other, the only people who didn't were still standing in place with so sign of moving a single finger.

"You not planning to fight?" The cowboy sounded disappointed.

"Just curious." Spider-Man replied. "You said that we're in Osborn's property right?"

"Yeah so." Montana said in confusion. "What are you trying to pull?"

"It's really simple." The young spider shrugged his shoulders. "These two!"

 _ **TWIP! TWIP!**_

Without warning, the spider hero shot two strands of webbing at Sun and Neptune's back while they weren't looking and flung them in the air.

"Woah!"

"Waah!"

As the two teens were flung away from harm, Spider-Man leapt into the air and landed on a high stack of Osborn's container. Looking down at the three men, Spider-Man gave his final good bye.

"Sorry, but right now I got bigger things to worry about. Our little showdown will have to wait." Giving them a wave goodbye, Spider-Man back flipped off to join the two students he'd violently thrown over, leaving the Enforcers all alone.

"Hey! Get back here, freak!" Fancy Dan was about to give chase when he was stopped by Montana. "What the? Why are we letting them go?"

"Because Osborn didn't pay us enough to go bug hunting." The leader of the group looked back at their first victims. "Besides, these here soldier boys seem more in line to catch Spider-Man then deal with Dust like the other Atlas goons this morning."

"Meaning?" Ox asked in his usual monotone voice.

"Meaning this is over our pay grade. Whatever the bug is dealing with we don't want to be caught in it without getting paid more." Taking his hand off Dan, Montana reached for his Scroll to contact someone.

"What are we gonna do now?" Fancy Dan asked while looking at Spider-Man's previous location.

"We do our job and stay put. So long as no trespassers come by we're in the clear." Hearing the dial tone on his Scroll, Montana looked back at his team and smirked.

"And Spider-Man?" Ox asked this time as he dragged the knocked-out Atlas personnel away from their employer's property.

"Spider-Man will have to deal with that problem on his own." Finally hearing a voice on the other end, the lasso user gave his team a silent order to deal with clean up while he talked to the person who hired him. "Mr. Osborn, this is Montana. Looks like you might have some loose webs getting stuck in your hair. Good news for you, the Enforcers can be your exterminators."

* * *

"Oww~ That hurt my everything bone." Neptune groaned as he picked himself off the hard floor and whipped away any unwanted dust off his clothes.

"Yeah." Sun agreed with his partner before stretching. "Glad we had Aura or else we'd be in a lot more pain."

And Sun would've been right. When he looked back at where he originally was he could see that Spider-Man threw them so far that they were in the SDC's lot. With the distance spanning over a football field, Sun could only be thankful that his Aura was strong enough to withstand the force and wonder how strong Spider-Man was to throw them that far.

Just as the two were wondering what happened to the hero, Spider-Man finally showed up, jumping from crate to crate before landing next to Neptune, causing the boy to step back at how quickly he caught up to them.

"Are you guys ok?" Spider-Man asked.

"We're fine, but why did you pull us away from them? We could handle them no problem." Sun wondered why Spider-Man would make them run away and look like cowards.

"You wanted to fight soldiers who were following orders?" Spider-Man asked him like Sun lost his mind.

"They were trying to arrest you! We had to defend ourselves!"

"So, you planned to fight not just soldiers, but Atlas soldiers? You don't understand the magnitude of the problem. That'd cause a complete strain to Atlas and Vale." The hero poked holes in every argument the young Huntsman was throwing at him.

"What about those Enforcer dudes? They attacked those soldiers too."

"You heard what Montana said. He was hired to secure Osborn property. The Atlas soldiers, plus the three of us, were trespassing."

Sun tried to make another argument before saying something without thinking. "We're trained Huntsmen. We could've handled the situation ourselves."

"That's exactly the point!" Taking a step forward, Spider-Man was now up close to Sun making the blonde monkey no choice but to look directly into Spider-Man's compound eyes. "I was there to get a lead on where to find Sandman, not to start a fight with people that isn't related to my main problem. If we had done it your way it could've been worse."

To show what he meant, Spider-Man lifted the still frozen sand sculpture close to Sun's face. "I was here for this. And now that I have it, you two need to go back to Beacon."

"What! Why?" Neptune voiced his disagreement. "We can help you. Sun has some friends from Beacon. Maybe we can call for ba-"

"NO!" Spider-Man no longer looked at Sun and focused his gaze on to the goggle wearing Huntsman. "You're out of your mind if I want you to get more people in harm's way."

 _'I don't want Ruby or any one on her team to face that mad man. Even if they're skilled in their own right that doesn't mean they're prepared to face someone like Sandman.'_

"This days already dragged on long enough with you guys hanging around." As if also voicing its own thought, the sand piece started to shake even more violently, causing Spider-Man to go on high alert at the situation before him.

 _'Sandman!? He must be close enough to make the sand fragment go nuts! I have to find him now or else he'll get away!'_

"If you want to really help, then go to Beacon and call for fully trained Huntsmen. They'll handle the rest."

"But-"

"I'm serious, this is too dangerous for kids like you."

 _'Hi pot! I'm kettle, have we met!?'_

"Spider-Man, you nee-"

"No, I need you two to hurry and go to Beacon. I can handle the rest by myself. No one else knows where I am so I'd like it for it to remain like that."

"Dude!" Sun quit talking to Spider-Man and pushed him to the direction he was trying to show him. "That's already out the window. Look over there!"

Following Sun's finger, the hero squinted to get a better view at what the boy was trying so show him.

 _'What am I seei- Ohhh Nooooo~'_

Near the entrance to the docks, Spider-Man could see a mass of bodies, all of them holding Scrolls, cameras, and even a few news vans trying to get a better shot at trying to spot him before anyone else can. Something that seemed strange was the all of them were holding signs with his symbol on it while more were wearing his colors to show why they were here in the first place.

 _'So many people. Why are there so many here?'_

"How? How did they know I was going to be here?" Spider-Man asked himself. "I made sure to not be seen, kept to high ground, and yet why are there so many people already here?"

When there was no response to his question, Spider-Man stopped himself from asking any more questions and looked at the two guilty suspects.

"Yeah. About that." Neptune blushed from embarrassment and scratched his cheek. "You're gonna laugh at how they found out about this."

* * *

 **And there you have it! A big start to a big fight that will be coming soon. I know I said Sandman will be in this chapter and I was half telling a truth. I know It doesn't make sense that a part of Sandman was captured, but I thought I would try something related to Flint so Jaune can see if his new web shooter was effective against him.** **Sun and Neptune was also in this chapter and the reason I used them is because they don't have much development in Volume 2. I also wanted to point out how some things don't involve fighting like some Huntsmen do. I know it also makes Jaune look bad, but he is more worried about Sandman doing something much worse then picking a fight with the Enforcers.**

 **I even wanted to show hoe much fame Jaune had acquired making it both a gift and a burden to be well known. He now has to make sure that innocent people won't get hurt just because they want to take a picture of Spider-Man doing something amazing.** **Another comment I get was the web shooters, Jaune is just getting the hang of them and it is still early in development. He can change and modify them to his liking or when the situation gets worse. He does work at a dust shop that supplies weapon parts to Huntsmen, so he doesn't have to worry about tuning out.**

 **Shout out to my Beta Reader: Maestro Of Madness! Check out his work when you are finished reading mine. For the next chapter Spider-Man's problems will now have to track Sandman and also try and keep himself far away from his fans just so they won't be harmed in the fighting.**  
 **Like always, be sure to like, fav, and follow this story. Pretty sure I didn't answer some of your questions, so the next chapter I'll be sure to answer to the best of my abilities. Thank you.**

 **Before I forget, me and Maestro Of Madness was thinking of making an Omake after each chapter showing Spider-Man's daily good deeds and how it made him even more well known in the Kingdom. Leave a comment on what you guys think of if it should be added to the end of each chapter. Thank you.**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13 Sandstorm

The first national back of Vale was one of the many heavily secured places in the kingdom. With several armed guards on watch every hour on the hour both outside and inside the building, over a hundred cameras placed in every angle to spot any dangers lurking, finger print encrypted locks to open the safe, sum it up with a 10in thick solid steel door protecting the money no one in their right mind would try and steal from a place like this.

Another added security to transfer Lien to the bank is the use of heavily armored cars, also armed to the teeth with trained guards in case thieves had the guts to try and steal from the van then the actual bank. It was normal for security to see the van arrive around late in the afternoon to drop off another load of Lien to the vault with double the security from the bank to help load it out.

"Hey, check this out." One of the surveillance workers said to his friend watching his side off the cameras. "Are you seeing this?"

Taking his eyes off the cameras showing the front entrance, the man looked at the camera his friends was showing him to see the usual armored van arrive to the back of the bank.

What made it even weirder was that said van already dropped of this week's pay load two hours ago. Both men used their radio to get security to check outside and investigate why it came back again.

"We should call this in." The first guard who spotted this problem said. "Get some police down here just in c-"

The man couldn't finish his sentence when a foreign object lodged itself in his head, killing him instantly. Seeing the death of his fellow co-worker, the second surveillance watcher turned around in time to see the person who fired was one of their own.

"What are you doing!?" He shouted, trying to distract the attacker while slowly reaching for the alarm button underneath the control board.

The button was just a few centimeters from his finger, but when he was about to press it he stopped when three more guards came in the room. He tried, no longer caring if he was going to die, but stopped when he felt an invisible force stopping him.

That invisible force soon showed to be a hand from a young girl with green hair making the man look in surprise that she appeared out of thin air. Turning his head, he saw that the security guards that were dressed like him changed appearance revealing the White Fang.

Looking back at his hand he was greeted to see a barrel of a gun pointed point blank to the center of his face.

"If this wasn't clear to you." Emerald told the guard who was sweating profusely. "This is a robbery."

* * *

When they heard that the usual armored cargo came back the guards who got word through the camera room double timed to the back of the bank to check out the situation.

Half a dozen showed up to the scene, their weapons pointed directly at the van, and waited for the driver to get out to answer as to why they came back.

"Get out of the van." The guard in front said in an even tone. "Come out with your hands up."

No response came from the driver making them worried that it really could be an attempted robbery. The guard who was leading the group raised his non-firing hand to signal one of them to check the driver, followed by the rest of the men open the back of the van.

Walking closer to the front of the car, the armed man pointed his rifle on the driver and was going to order the intruder to get of the vehicle but looked in confusion at who was driving.

"Yes, I'm here to make a deposit." Mercury, who was wearing the same uniform was them, said in a mocking tone.

"Who the- Get out of the v-" As he was about to shout his demand, Mercury saw the opportunity to reach for the weapon, pulled it closer to him, and punch the lights out of the man before he could speak.

At Mercury was springing his surprise attack, the rest of the guards tried to reach for the back door when suddenly it opened by itself with a wave of sand bursting out and covering them in darkness.

"I didn't get to finish what I said." Mercury looked at the rear-view mirror seeing Sandman finish off the rest of security. "But I'm here to make a deposit and a withdrawal."

* * *

After the phone call Mr. Jonah received from one of his employees about his most hated celebrity, Spider-Man, being seen heading to the docks.

 _'No doubt covering his friends tracks from his latest heist!'_

The office was receiving phone calls from several more of his reporters, including some freelancers trying to earn a quick Lien, with the same news Hoffman gave him.

 _'Spider-Man! How far will you go to make everyone think you're a hero?!'_

"Grrrr! Betty!" Forcefully opening his office door loud enough for everyone close enough to hear, Mr. Jameson looked over at his secretary's desk to see a Betty on her Scroll. "Did he pick up!?"

"No." She hanged up the call and started to text. "I tried calling over a hundred times and he's still not answering! I'm going to try and leave a text, so he knows where to go."

As soon as word spread that the hero was seen heading to the docks of where Sandman attacked this morning, Betty made several attempts to tell Jaune, so he'd be the first to arrive and take pictures. No one could get good photos of Spider-Man since he moves too fast for anyone to get a good shot of him, so it was imperative to the Bugle to send their best reporter to get photos before anyone else could.

That was until Jaune decided not to answer his Scroll for the many messages left by Betty telling him about what's going down at the pier. At first she thought that he was still at school, but last she checked his school already ended making her worry why he isn't answering. It was even worse with how her boss is getting crankier and crankier at Jaune's rebellious act at not answering leaving Jonah furious that his own employee was ignoring him.

"Can't believe he's doing this now!" Jaune's boss grabbed his scroll in his pocket. "It's already been an hour since Hoffman told us about the Web head being at the docks."

"I'm sure Jaune's on his way." Betty tried to reason with him. "Remember, J.J, he's still a teenager. He can't get far on foot, he must be trying to get there as fast as he can. Maybe that's why he's not answering his scroll."

"Or he could be blowing us off!" Jonah screamed and swung both arms above his head. "Can't believe I hired him! He's still too young to know the responsibilities of having a job!"

"I'm sure he knows, he's probably running to where Spider-Man is." She tried to make her boss understand. "After all, he usually gives us great photos of Spider-Man."

"Only when Spider-Man's tricking the people when he "helps" them!" Jonah made sure to put air quotes on the word 'helps'. "This time it's different! This time I want to have photos of Spider-Man caught in the act!"

"Act?" Jonah's secretary gave him a look of confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"What I'm talking about? I'm talking about Spider-Man pretending to be a hero!" Jonah proclaimed making Betty groan at her boss's usual antics of painting Spider-Man look like the bad guy. "Do you ever wonder why no one could get good photos of him and only Jaune?"

Betty had to take a moment to think about the question but answered with no hesitation at what she said.

"It's cause most of them are complete morons who try and make lien from a quick pic of Spider-Man, while Jaune makes sure he gets high quality photos to the Bugle. Have you seen most of the photos other people give us? They're terrible and unfocused pieces of trash."

And she was right. With the increasing craze of Spider-Man growing more and more in the kingdom, many people tried to cash in on his fame by trying to take photos of him when they have the chance. But when they do they always use their Scrolls to do it, making the photos blurry and unrecognizable. Jaune on the other hand, never liked using his Scroll for that and prefers to use an actual camera instead. With how many people using their Scrolls nowadays as their main tool of electronics, people have lost sight of other technologies that have the same function as their Scroll. That also includes the news. No longer did they use actual recording devices to show the news, making them look like their posting an updated vlog rather than professional news recordings.

People who have a Scroll and take moderate photos think they can be a photographer now, making it hard for the Bugle to hire people with so many people thinking that they can cut it. Scrolls are a more convenient way to carry and is a well-rounded electronic tool, but that's it. They can't do everything other devices can do, they aren't bright enough to be a flash light, or get better long range reception like a radio, but above all else they can't take good picture like an actual camera.

Most think it's outdated to use a camera nowadays, but Jaune made the extra mile to even buy one to look more professional when he goes out there to take photos. It makes him a better candidate to be hired then all the other hacks thinking they could be part of the Bugle.

"You know why we hired him. He uses an actual camera and takes good pictures of Spider-Man."

"Wrong!" Jonah said to Betty. "Spider-Man is just using Arc so he can take his popularity even higher, so he can make Vale see him as a hero and not wonder why he's doing these things. I mean, what better way to make you even more well known then Bugle!?"

"Riiight." Betty said while rolling her eyes at her boss. "But why Jaune and not any of our other photographers?"

"Because Jaune is our youngest worker. Spider-Man needs a young, impressionable, and gullible kid so he can trick him into helping his evil plans. But I can see it a mile away!" Jonah babbled on.

From the corner of her eye she can see one of her co-workers behind her boss, one of them decided to twirl his finger's next to his head to show what he thinks about Jonah. Hiding a snicker, she quickly went back to look at her boss when he started talking.

"You just wait, Betty. Sooner or later Spider-Man will slip up and show everyone his true colors!" Jonah's voice became louder for the rest of the office to hear. "And when that happens I'll make sure the Bugle will be the first one to reveal him caught in the act!"

At this point Betty and the rest of the people listening to their boss finally heard him quite down and go back to his office. But, as if proving them wrong, Jonah's voice became louder when he changed his rage to the masked vigilante to a certain blonde boy still not answering his scroll.

"That's why we need Jaune to be at the docks!" Jonah shouted and went back to the main topic of his rant. "And if I don't see any pictures of Spider-Man from Jaune today, then I'm gonna fire him!"

* * *

"I'm so fired~" Spider-Man groaned in his hands. Not even caring with Sun and Neptune were looking awkwardly at him while he paces back in forth in a nervous manner.

"This can't get any worse. This can't possibly get any worse." Spider-Man groaned, his hands still not leaving his face as he kept muttering to himself through his webbed hands making anyone who can hear him sound muffled.

After arriving to the docks, he thought that he could just do a simple investigation where Sandman was spotted, hoping to find a clue to where he can find him before he could do another robbery. What he found was helpful to him, but it soon went straight down the drain as Blake's friend, Sun Wukong, and his partner Neptune followed him. Spider-Man now had to deal with two tag alongs and at the same time thinking different ways to lose them and get back to his main objective.

That plan became derailed when the Atlas military spotted him. Spider-Man now had to deal with two tag alongs and Atlas. Who apparently wanted to bring him to their kingdom for whatever reason without the consent of the Council making him re-think another way to lose two Huntsmen and the military.

And once again the plan was torn up, burned, and thrown out the window after OsCorp security showed up and wiped the floor with said soldiers like they were nothing. Now, he had to make another plan to lose his new companions and leave without getting into a scuffle with OsCorp and his hired muscle.

Luckily enough after dealing with all of that, Spider-Man was still able to get away from that little war zone and go back to finding a safe place to drop of Sun and Neptune.

That thought too became a fleeting dream when he saw a massive crowd of people, news crews, and an alarmingly number of officers at the entrance of the docks waiting for him.

 _'How did today become so out of control?! Wait. I know why.'_

It was thanks to his two new sidekicks that told him they were the reason so many knew where he was. Said two sidekicks were standing in place looking at Spider-Man in guilt as they watched the hero get through his small panic attack.

"Psst, Sun." Neptune said in a hushed tone. "Did he do this when you saw him at the docks?"

"No." Prying his eyes away from Spider-Man, Sun talked to his friend in the same quiet tone, so the hero wouldn't hear them talking. "When I saw him at the docks he was more awesome and badass. He wasn't like... this."

Neptune looked back at Spider-Man who was still pacing back and forth, not even caring the two were talking behind his back.

"Today really isn't my day…" Spider-Man muttered to himself.

Last time Sun saw Spider-Man he was at the docks a couple of months ago kicking butt and taking names. The same said hero was no longer emanating a wave of confidence, but instead showing anxiety and nervousness making him wonder how Blake would react if he told her what the other side of Spider-Man was like.

 _'Who am I kidding? The reason he's like this is because of me and my big mouth! I really should know how to keep my mouth shut sometimes.'_

After the two confessed that they were the cause of so many people gathering in one place to see Spider-Man, Sun couldn't help but feel sorry for ruining the heroes' idea of just trying to stay unnoticed to the public.

What made the situation even worse is that if so many people are here then that means that Blake and her team will catch wind of this. Sun could already see how the situation will look like, Blake would probably arrive before her team and see Spider-Man like this with him and Neptune being the culprits for the hero being so nervous.

After all, with so many Huntsmen having negative thoughts on the wall crawler and with the Council wanting to put him behind bars it was understandable for her to be angry at him.

"Hey Sun." Neptune nudged Sun's arm to get his attention. "Shouldn't he, you know, just web swing out of this problem? I mean, yeah people now know he's here, but he can just get away."

"It's not that easy, dude." Sun gave Neptune a solemn look. "He told us he was trying to track some really strong evil guy with that thing."

The monkey Faunus pointed at the still frozen sand sculpture hanging over the hero's shoulders.

"He wanted to find him before the guy from the news strikes again. "

"Shouldn't that Sandman guy be laying low?" Neptune questioned. "I mean, he just stole from the SDC and Hammer industries. A haul like that should make him top of the wanted list, I think."

"Dude, you saw what they said on the news! He turned in to a giant sand monster! Pretty sure he doesn't care if he should be laying low." Sun answered. "I think that's why he's acting all…. Worried. He doesn't want people to follow him when he finds the Sand dude."

"Oh~ I see why." Neptune slammed his fist into his open palm. "People want to see him in action! Like how some people watch us fight in tournaments on TV." As soon as he said that, Neptune put two and two together making his face turn horrified. "Oh snap! That's bad!"

"Right!? Spider-Man doesn't want people to get hurt when he fights a sand monster the size of a building! What's worse is that normal weapons have no effect on him."

"Then what about that?" Neptune motioned to the frozen sand piece. "He froze that thing. So, he must have used ice dust to freeze it."

"Yeah, pretty sure every Huntsmen will probably use ice dust when he finds Sandman. Problem is, no one knows when he'll attack. Which brings us to why Spider-Man's stuck here."

"And us with him. Which brings us to now." Neptune didn't have to say more since the noise of so many people wanting to see the web head gave it away. Standing in silence a second time with the nervous hero still walking back and forth to fill the silence. "You think he's going to keep doing that?"

"Can you blame the guy? We kinda ruined his whole stealth/investigation thing. You know, things heroes do before fighting a super villain." Sun explained the usual hero dynamic he learned from reading comic books.

"Speaking of supervillains, what is that thing doing?" Pointing his finger at what he was talking about, Sun looked at where is partner was talking about and the saw the ice sculpture starting to shake more and more wildly. "Think we should tell him?"

Since he was partially the one responsible for ruining his cover, Sun walked close to the masked hero and placed his hand over Spider-Man's shoulder to stop him from pacing.

"Dude. I mean, Spider-Man, Neptune and I are sorry for ruining whatever you were doing. But you're thing is going crazy."

 _'Thing? Sandman! Getting fired from the Bugle can come second! First thing first is tracking Sandman!'_

Shaking his head to get himself out of his funk, Spider-Man looked at the now shaking sand piece and raised it in front of him to show him where Sandman is. As soon as the piece was facing a specific part of the city the sand began to shake even more.

 _'That location…. The bank! He's not planning to steal anymore Dust he's planning to steal lien too!'_

"I have to go." Spider-Man told them. "The ice won't hold this thing for long and Sandman's already taking another heist."

"So, what are we waiting for? Let's go and stop him.!" Sun said in an exited tone. As soon as he heard about another attempt to rob Vale the blonde Huntsman was already stepping off before Spider-Man grabbed his arm. "Huh? What's the matter?"

"Did I not say that you guys can't go with me?" The hero told him. "I'll drop you guys off somewhere safe and go hold Sandman off so you two can call for some backup."

"But-" The Faunus was going to speak more when Neptune decided to interrupt him.

"I think we really should sit this one out, man." Neptune told him, no longer speaking in his usual bravado. This time, he spoke in a humorless tone that Sun hasn't heard since their first time in initiation.

"You too, Neptune? But we-"

"Are going to get in his way. I mean, Atlas soldiers, highly skilled body guards, and a huge gaggle of fans that even I'm scared of facing are all on Spider-Man's plate." Neptune counted all the problems at hand. "And this was all in a few hours I met the guy. Sun, this is way bigger than I thought it'd be. We're just students, and this guy's a professional hero."

 _'Ok, that last part made this day a bit worth it.'_

"I think It's in our best interest to get out of his way and call for real help." Taking a moment to look at Spider-Man, Neptune gave him a nod to show he agreed to the wall crawler's suggestion.

"You go on and do what heroes do. You can leave us here, we may be students, but we're still trained Huntsmen."

Not wanting to argue with them any longer, Spider-Man took one last look at the two before looking back at the city, shot a long string of webbing, and looked back to speak his final words.

"I'll trust you on that part. But you two must call for back up. Even I'm not sure I can take him on by myself."

 _'I'm lying. I totally got my butt kicked the first time, I have no doubt I can't take him on with just myself.'_

"We'll get on that. Now go, do what a spider does." The blue haired teen said and was given a nod of thanks to the spider Faunus.

"Thanks, wish me luck guys." Getting a running start, Spider-Man jumped high in the air and started his web swing leaving only the two teens alone at the docks.

Now with the hero gone Neptune took a sigh of relief but was shoved roughly by Sun who was giving him a look of betrayal.

"Dude! Why didn't you take my side! That's so uncool man!" Sun looked away from his partner and crossed his arms in frustration.

"Come on, Sun." Neptune said in his normal voice. "You really think I meant all that? Your talking to the guy who's able to talk to the senior girls back in our school remember?"

Placing an arm over Sun's shoulder, Neptune reached in his pocket and showed it to his partner who was looking at what was in front of his face in surprise.

"How did you get this?" He asked while looking at a small fragment from the sand prison Spider-Man hanged over his shoulder.

"While you were telling him about why his fan club arrived I grabbed a piece when he was talking to himself." Taking the fragment away from Sun, the goggle wearing teen pointed it at the same location Spider-Man was heading made the small piece shake like it's larger counterpart did.

"Let's go, Sun. A hero always gets help wither he likes it or not."

* * *

"This doesn't make any sense. First, he stole dust, now he's also taking Lien? What does this mean?" Spider-Man asked himself while at the same time landing safely on top of the roof of one of the huge warehouses that was between the docks and the normal buildings.

 _'Unless he decided to go solo and leave whatever group he joined, I seriously doubt he would do this on his own.'_

The masked spider also didn't think that Sandman is arrogant enough to think he would be able to escape with such a valuable haul with him. The national bank of Vale was the most used, and most guarded place in the kingdom. Almost everyone uses that bank to deposit or withdraw their finances there, including celebrities, people who work with the council, and even rich people like Harry's father.

 _'Of course, I don't use that place. I mean, as soon as I get my paycheck in my hands it immediately vanishes. That and I usually put the rest under my bed.'_

Lifting the ice incased sand in front of him, Spider-Man made sure he was going to right way and continued his pursuit for the Sandman. Taking a few steps forward, he jumped of the warehouse, swung his arm forward to eject a long web string to a nearby apartment complex, and used his momentum to swing himself forward.

He was lucky that where he was going didn't involve to many people able to see him. The bank was located just far way enough that he can slip away undetected, he was even more relieved that the sky didn't have any news choppers yet making the web head breathe easy that he didn't have to do another disappearing act.

What he thought the large group from before was big, he didn't expect more to be coming just a few blocks away. The hero expected that enough people was already waiting to see him at the docks, but he didn't know that even more was right around the corner. The side walk leading to where he was had people pushing and shoving to get to have the chance to see him, with some even bring folding chairs just in case they might wait a long time just to catch a glimpse.

 _'So many people. All just to see me being Spider-Man?'_

Not wanting to have a chance of being seen, Spider-Man was planning to take another detour when he suddenly felt the side of leg feel damp.

 _'Ok, now I really don't want to be seen by people! Unless I regressed back to be a child, I'm pretty sure I didn't pee my pants.'_

With the help of his Spidey sense to automatically move his body to avoid danger, Spider-Man looked away from where he was swinging to see the problem with his costume. Just as Spider-Man expected, the sand that was trapped within his ice web was slowly melting making his deadline to reach Sandman even more urgent. He knew that his web formula was a prototype, so he expected some problems, what he didn't expect was that his formula would dissolve this quickly making it even more worrisome that by the time he did show up he would have to fight Sandman while also trying to explain that he in fact did nor wet himself.

' _I can't worry about people seeing me now! If I do try, then the sand will break free and I'll lose my chance to get Sandman if he already left the bank!'_

Letting out a sigh of regret, the wall crawler focused ahead of him and kept his course. Hoping that he was high enough for people not to see him.

"I just need to go a little bit faster. Man, I really hope if people do see me they won't be able to see the little accident I made."

Taking the chance that he will be seen, Spider-Man let go of his security line and placed both his arms to the side for a small moment to glide in the air. Letting the wind carry him for a short time he instantly extended his arms out, placed two web lines on two structures facing each other, used his super strength to pull, and like a sling shot he launched himself even faster in the air.

"Look! It's Spider-Man!" A random man who was sitting on his folding chair on the side walk said. Most people who caught side of the hero doing such an amazing feat of acrobatics also looked up in awe, but some also tried to take a picture of Spider-Man in hopes of selling it off to whoever is willing the pay for them. Now that the hero was seen speeding across the streets, the people who could see him before he passed them started to shout his name causing everyone to increase in volume as they speak to one another like wild fire about the web hero.

"Where's he going?"

"He must be going somewhere that needs his help. Go Get'em Spider-Man!"

"You rule Spider-Man!"

"You're the real hero in Vale, dude!"

But just as the shouting of cheers and positive words were being spoken, so too did the insults coming from people who didn't like the web head were being mixed as well.

"Show us your face, weirdo!"

"Leave it to the Huntsmen to clean this mess up!"

"Get out of Vale, you clown!"

"Spider-Man sucks!" One man screamed, this one was wearing a T-shirt with Spider-Man's signature arachnid logo in the center, but what made it different was that it had a large 'NO!' on it written in bold red letter. "You're a menace to the kingdom!"

His loud jeering at the hero didn't go unnoticed as one of the Spider fans nearby heard the man making the fan boy grab the man by the shoulder.

"Hey, man, what's your problem? You can't say that to him, he's a hero!" The Spider fan defended his idol.

"Oh please, don't be naïve. The guy is a fool to do what he does and a criminal to do things without the law on his side." The Spider-Man hater countered.

The small argument soon became even worse when more people started to join them in their argument about Spider-Man being helpful or not.

"The guy is a true hero to this kingdom!"

"That man is no better than the White Fang hiding behind a mask!

"If the Faunus really wants an Icon to follow, then the one to lead them is Spider-Man!"

"He's just a menace to society! J. Jonah. Jameson says so on the Bugle!"

"That man is just some idiot spouting nonsense. If he saw what Spider-Man does for us then he would be praising the hero rather than make him sound like the bad guy!"

With both sides gaining more people followers and with no one backing down from their point of view on the web head. It was dust keg waiting to explode, and it was soon ignited when a person who was in the outskirts of the huge two opposing groups picked up a rock on the ground and threw it.

The small projectile hit one of them who was on the Spider fan side causing the rest of them to retaliate in anger that one of their own got struck for no reason. The fight soon became the center of attention making everyone who was present no longer be remembering why they were and instead either run, record, or join in the brawl.

What was just a simple reason to see their hero web swing over their heads now turned full on riot, the police that was ready to apprehend the spider soon changed priorities when they caught wind on their radio telling them that a full-scale fight that needed to be stopped.

"I knew this would happen eventually!" A police officer wearing a bright long sleeve shirt with Kevlar vest said. "Alright boys, change of plans! We need to break up that fight! Get the medics down here too, we should be expecting some injured."

"But, sir! We we're supposed to catch Spider-Man." One of the officers fully dressed in heavy police gear said.

"We haven't seen the wall crawler since we arrived and by now he's already long gone. Now hurry up! I care more about saving people from something like this then catch a guy dressed as a bug!"

With no one asking any more questions, the officers who were stationed close to the docks soon went back in their squad cars and started to drive to where the fighting was being taken place. The same man who ordered them to abandon the arrest of Spider-Man was also driving his personal cop car, with one hand on the wheel and the other texting a message to his daughter telling her that he would probably be late going home.

"Got a message from your daughter, Captain Stacey?" An officer who was riding next to him asked.

"It's from my daughter." He answered. "Just telling her that I won't be home to congratulate her for her new job."

As he was talking, Captain Stacey stopped his car just a few feet from the riot seeing many people running away from the scene when they caught sight of the police.

"So many people." The cop sitting next to his Captain said. "All of this just to see the web guy?"

Mr. Stacey didn't answer his question, instead he looked ahead to see the large fight, both Spider Fans and those against the spider hero duking it out, then opened his door to get started another full day of arrests and paper work.

"Why my daughter likes this spider guy I'll never know."

* * *

The business district was always a symbol of the concrete jungle. Never stopping its progress of making better and bigger buildings. The national bank of Vale was one of many examples of progress in the kingdom. Other examples were fancy restaurants for people who could afford to eat there and even fancier hotels for people who could even spend a single night to enjoy the day of luxury. With many other large construction sights just around the corner to match or even surpass their betters, it was a breath-taking sight to see in a birds-eye-view.

Buy when you're the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man you not only see the beautiful sights above, but also see the terrible lies it hides from underneath it's gold and glamor.

Just as more places were being built for better and expensive places it also needs to buyout existing buildings. Said buildings range from small businesses that was just getting started to cheap, affordable apartments for people who moved out of their village or from the other kingdoms to start a new life here in Vale.

All those people now are either moving back to their original home or on the streets begging for change from people who are richer than them. This place was always like this, Jaune knew this since he was like them when he arrived in Vale in hopes to be in Beacon. He didn't bring anything but his families old hand-me-down and a bag with his sleeping gear. The blonde teen didn't have a backup plan like most people who didn't cut it, or able to do a do-over like others who had the chance. Instead he was like the people he was seeing below the streets, alone and down on their luck.

But what made him what he is today was the help of the Parker's and their endless kindness decided to take him under their wing and help him get back on his feet. It was that reason alone that whenever he donned his costume he would always spend more time in this part of the kingdom doing his daily night patrols. Spider-Man knew that the biggest time he had to deal with a high rate of crime was here with things like robbery, arson, murder, and even things he wishes to forget Spider-Man was there to stop it before it became worse. It would have been easier to just clean up the other areas of the kingdom since they didn't have so much crime happening, but this place was what birthed him to be who he was, so it was only right to come back to where it began and repay it with the same thing Ben and May parker did for him.

Kindness.

Spider-Man made sure to do what can and it did show in some parts of this district. It didn't take him over night to clean up some parts, but he didn't have to do it alone thanks to some people who he did help decided to finally help others who are struggling. There has been an increase in help in soup kitchens, more police cars are finally doing more patrols thanks to his effort in taking down Roman who had some cops under his pay roll, and sometimes he would see people who were once homeless now living under a roof. He may only be helping those he could save in front of him, but those he did save are doing the same to others and so forth.

It made him feel a small sense of pride well up inside of him knowing the fact that his personal quest to help the kingdom was holding weight. When he was a kid he was always told from his sisters who were Huntsmen how they protect people from threats like the Grimm and other dangers. He thought being Spider-Man he can only do minimal tasks such as stop fights or help someone lift their car up, so they can change a tire. But now he knows that you don't need to be a Huntsmen to do those amazing tricks they do with their weapons or go to schools to learn more about being a Huntsmen.

You just need to help those who need helping, it doesn't have to involve fighting big monsters, just give a helping hand to small problems when your able. It may not give you recognition Huntsmen get, but it was never the reason to help people in the first place. If you saw someone in trouble it's not just your choice, but your responsibility to help those in need. And for Spider-Man that responsibility is why he's racing down to the bank to stop Sandman from putting more people in danger.

 _'There it is!'_

Letting go of his web line mid swing, the hooded spider was in the air before he used his adhesive ability to stick to a wall of an unknown hotel that was facing the bank that showed no signs of a break in from Flint.

Spider-Man expected to see it in some disarray, but what he saw made him think that Sandman may not be here. The bank itself was still in mint condition, there was the usual guards posted all over the bank, and even the people walking by didn't seem to take note of anything suspicious.

"So why does my spider sense keep telling me that danger is nearby?" He asked out loud.

 _'The ice is already melting, and I can feel the sand shaking free, Flint must be here.'_

Never doubting his spider sense, Spider-Man jumped off the tall structure and shot his organic web lines, so he could circle the bank to see if anything is out of the ordinary. The building seemed to be the same at first glance, but thanks to Spider-Man's danger sense and his photographer side knowing small details the hero found something odd with how the guards were acting.

The guards at the front never seemed to move, not even to stretch their limbs, it was even more weird that when people did try to enter they were turned away when they saw the doors were locked signaling that the bank was closed early.

"Ok, usually the guards I see in the front aren't this stoic." The hero said while swinging to see what the back of the bank was any different.

The back showed differently than the front. One of the big signs that something was up was that there were more guards at the back then usual. It tipped him off that it was weird, since whenever he does his midnight patrols he always made time to make sure places that could be targeted get a few minutes of a stake out to make sure nothing bad happens.

The bank was the few that needed to have a careful eye on since it was where most people go to deposit their money. It was normal to have extra security at night, but the amount at the back was doubled and during broad daylight too.

"Ok, this is weird." The web head said. "These guys aren't the usual day shift security."

How Spider-Man knew this was that when he does his small stake outs at night he used that time to remember faces that worked at the bank. Some of the faces he knew were standing guard which was strange since they are supposed to be at home resting.

 _'It's a slim and poor excuse to break in to investigate, but if the sand and his spider sense was telling him that Flint was here the Spider-Man had to take it.'_

The roof was his best way to sneak in without being seen. Of course, there will be guards on the roof, but with his ability to sense danger Spider-Man was able to avoid them and use the bank's giant air vents to enter the building.

Before he was bitten by the spider that made him have these amazing powers he would have been stuck in those vents shouting for someone to help him. But just like a spider he was gifted with incredible flexibility that helped him squeeze his body and crawl in the vents to see what is happening in the bank.

"Brrrr!" Spider-Man's body shivered from the cold wind blowing in every direction. "Can't these guys turn the A/C down?" Even though he was complaining how cold the vents are he was also thankful of the noise it was producing. With the help of how loud the wind was blowing in the vents he could crawl without worry about making noise that could blow his stealth making it easier for him to be undetected.

The wind that was blowing was also leading him to one of the grates used for the cold air to exit out and cool the inside of the bank it also gave Spidey a way to see if everything was indeed normal.

"Oh, how I hate my spider sense for being right sometimes."

Right underneath the hero, was hostages tied up and in a corner of the bank with the security guards aiming the guns at them with the intent to shoot if one of the hostages decided to stand up.

"1… 3…. 9…. 25! 25 people that need to get out of here safely. But how come people from the outside didn't see them tied up?" The blonde spider asked himself. "Unless that girl with the illusion semblance made it seem it was normal outside!"

 _'And I can also guess those people guarding outside and the people with the guards aren't real security, but the White Fang! The people I also know guarding the back are probably an illusion too.'_

Now the situation became even more problematic with people getting caught in this mix up. But with stealth under his belt Spider-Man continued to crawl in through the vents and used the multiple grates to get a good view of where all the fake guard were stationed so he could make his plan of attack.

The first to be taken down was the two guards walking away from the rest of the group to take a smoke break. With them away it was easy pickings for the web warrior to open the rate and descend upside down with a single web line to lower him close enough to catch them by surprise. Just as the two were about to light their cigarettes, Spider-Man hanged upside down behind them and whispered.

"Smoking can kill you know."

 _ **TWIP! TWIP!**_

Before the disguised White Fang could raise their firearms and shout that Spider Man was here, their faces were covered in webbing muffling their voices so no one can hear them.

Pulling the two webs across Spider-Man's body, the two guard were pulled close to each other with enough force that they knocked each other out. Not wanting to leave them for everyone to see he picked them both up over his shoulder and climbed back in the vents and webbed them up on the ceiling. The same process was used again when some of the White Fang wondered where their friends were making it easier for the hero to pick them off one by one. It went so well that some that only three fake security guards were still near the hostages became frantic at how less and less of their friends weren't returning.

"It's Spider-Man!" One of them shouted in fear. "He found us!"

"Stop waving that gun around man!" His friend told him. "Point it at the hostages and not us!"

"If he is here." The third member of the armed group said in a cold tone. "Then it doesn't matter if we get caught."

With a quick stride, the third armed man forcibly grabbed one of the hostages by the color and dragged her away from her group and out in the open for the three-armed men to do whatever they want.

"If he is here," All three men pointed at the crying, defenseless woman. "Then he knows what we will do to every single one of these people if he doesn't show his face."

Seconds ticked by with the woman crying to fill the void and with Spider-Man not showing up it was decided to prove they were serious.

"Please God…. don't do this." She begged weakly.

"Nothing personal." The man who dragged her said then placed the gun on her forehead.

His finger was already pressing done on the trigger and just as the bullet was about to leave the chamber a web string latched on to it and changed its trajectory.

"AAUGH!" The bullet didn't hit the woman and instead shot his friend who was the first to panic now on the ground clutching his bullet wound.

"Hey, your friend left this at the docks, can you give it back to him?" Spider-Man jumps off the ceiling, threw the melting ice at the man's head, and landed feet first on the shooter's back making him fall face first hard on the tile floor. "Sorry. Nothing personal."

With two out of commission he faced the last robber but stopped moving when the man grabbed the crying woman and placed his gun at the side of her head.

"YOU! QUIT! LEAVE! RIGHT NOW!" He screamed and pressed the gun even harder on her head. "This gun holds over thirty rounds. And I'll tag this girl with every last one of them unless you-"

"The spiders."

"Uh, What?" The White Fang member stopped his demands and looked at Spider-Man in confusion when he saw the masked hero crouch down and placed his hands on the floor.

"I'm summoning the spiders." Spider-Man said to the armed man in an eerie voice.

"What are you-"

"I'm _Spider-Man_. And your making me _mad_. I'm _summoning spiders_. They will come to my call."

To show he meant business, Spider-Man walked a step closer to the scared criminal no longer noticing that he had a gun in his hand.

" _Hundreds_ of them. _Thousands_. And all of them at _my command_." Taking another step closer, Spider-Man was now face to face with the criminal now losing his grip of his gun that was aimed away at the girl.

"Because I'm _**Spider-Man!**_ " The hero shouted causing the scared robber to drop his gun, let the woman go, and raised his arms in the air.

"I give dude, I give!" The last White Fang member said, not wanting the hero to use his semblance to summon a swarm of spiders to kill him.

"Glad to hear it!" The young hero dropped his acting and shot a web to the shooter's face then pulled hard to make the man fall to the ground and used the floor to knock him unconscious.

With the threat clear, Spider-Man helped the woman from her bonds and gave her a pat on the shoulder to assure her the worst is over.

"Help the rest and call for help." The spider hero told her.

"Ok, but what about the fake guards outside?" Her questions were followed by the guards from the front to barge in to find out why one of their own fired indoors.

"Um," Spider-Man looked at the new arrivals who were about to shoot him then moved his head back at the freed hostage. "You handle the rest of the hostages and I'll deal with them!"

The hooded spider didn't waste any more time when the guards from the front finally fired their guns at the hero. Thanks to his enhanced speed and spider sense the hooded hero evaded each bullet with ease. The shooters looked in awe as the hero became nothing but a swift blur of red and blue as the hero dodged automatic fire making their weapons useless to them. With the hero running around the bank some of the walls and windows became impacted with bullet holes loud enough for people outside to notice and scream in panic. One of the wall Spider-Man ran past had a water fountain that was punctured by a few rounds causing the water pipes to burst like a fountain and made half of the bank to be soaked in water.

 _'Well, now people won't think I wet myself now that my entire costume is drenched in water.'_

The hail of bullets soon ended telling Spider-Man they used up all the round allowing him to make his move. Shooting webs at their weapons, Spider-Man pulled them away from the fake guards, leaving them defenseless. The weaponless men now had plans of running away but before they could turn around the hero already attached webs to them and pulled. Their sights were no longer seeing the exit but was replaced by Spider-Man getting closer and closer before their faces met the hero's fists then blackness soon followed.

After the shootout ended, the hostages were freed from their restraints and ran out the front door with the only one left was the woman Spider-Man saved first staying behind.

"With how loud the shots were people from outside are already calling the police." She told the hero. "Thank you, Spider-Man. This kingdom would be less safe if it wasn't for you."

"Don't thank me yet." Spider-Man looked around the ruined bank, his spider sense still telling him trouble is still near. "I still saw more at the back of the bank. Not sure if some are real or not, but right now you need to-"

Before Spider-Man could finish speaking, a large hand made from sand emerged from the doors leading to the other half of the bank, grabbed the hero, and dragged him away. The hand may have caught the hero by surprise, but Spider-Man used the strength in his legs and his adhesive ability to plant himself in one spot. But the floor underneath his feet started to break giving him only a few seconds left before the tiles underneath him breaks.

" _ **RUN NOW!**_ " Those were his last words before the hand made another tug, causing the tiles to break. Spider-Man tried to apply more pressure in his legs, but it did nothing but make a trench with the blond hero being drawn to the doors leading to the vault then closed shut leaving the distraught woman all alone.

* * *

 **Once again. I am a terrible person for leaving another cliff hanger, but I want to make the next chapter the second to last part of the Sandman VS. Spider-Man fight. This was chapter is where Sandman was and how Spider-Man deals with taking care of people who are caught in this type of situation.**

 **I also wanted to add Gwen's dad in the mix too. I knew in the comics he is retired and others he is dead, but for now he is alive and well. This chapter also shows what the effects Spider-Man has on the public with many people love him for his acts of heroism and the other half hating him for going against the norm and being untrustworthy for wearing a mask since people still think of the White Fang when it comes to people wearing masks. Seriously, they wear a mask all the time! I know Raven wears one, but the majority is White Fang.**

 **This chapter also showed how the Kingdom is in some parts of the city. After all, a young teen who ran away from home can't possibly live on his own for long, especially when you have no where else to go. So this chapter was another way to show how Jaune lived when he was rejected from Beacon and how he was saved thanks to Ben and May Parker.**

 **Anyway, to sum it up, this chapter is about how the bad guys are at the bank, the people having a flame war about Spider-Man, plus Sun and Neptune following him and not even calling for more help. Hope you all enjoy this chapter and the next one will of course have Spider-Man deal with Sandman, Mercury and Emerald. I promise!**

 **Please comment to let me know your thoughts are on this chapter and like and fav if you think it rocks. Check out my Beta- Reader and his stories too and give him the same love! Thank you!**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14 Building A Sandcastle

 **This chapter may have some errors, but for good reason! My Beta-reader: Maestro Of Madness, is currently not feeling well and he won't be able to fix the chapter until he gets better. So, for now, I hope you guys will enjoy this chapter, it will be updated when he gets better. Thank you.**

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As long as Jaune could remember, he was always on a receiving end of a beat down.

"AAAAHHHH!" The blonde hero shouted as he was violently pulled by the large hand made of sand to the back of the bank.

Jaune was mostly used to it when he started to protect his sisters from bullying for only to be beaten up by the bullies instead. To add more salt on his wounds his sisters who were being bullied in the first place had to help him rather than the other way around.

"OOFF!" With Spider-Man now reaching the end of his horrible ride, he was soon greeted with Sandman cocking his free hand back, took the shape of a giant hammer, and swung his massive hammer to the right temple of Spider-Man's head making him fly sideways and made a large dent on the bank's walls.

Fast forward a few years after that, Jaune had a memory of trying to follow his family's footsteps of being a Huntsmen like his father and sisters.

"GAAHH!" With the heavy impact still making him vulnerable, Spider-Man didn't register the chains wrapping around him in time to dodge. The chains that was being used by Emerald was soon pulled leaving the hero in the air once again to be attacked.

Jaune tried to join his family in sparring so he could be a Huntsmen like them, but it just strengthened their thoughts of him not being able to keep up with them when they sparred making him feel even more helpless at what he wanted to do when he grew up.

"GAFUAH!" With the hero in the air, it left Mercury the prime opportunity to jump just high enough then Spider-Man and deliver a downward kick to the hero's head before triggering his boot to fire a round of dust made of wind to propel the spider hero crashing down hard on the floor that when his body impacted the ground he made a medium sized crater.

It made Jaune realize early in his life that he might not be able to be a Huntsmen, but denied it most of his life until he accepted it when he was alone in Vale. With the clothes on his back and the negative emotions swimming in his mind. His head filled with everyone who told him he couldn't be a Huntsmen telling him they were right.

Spider-Man remained motionless in his man-sized crater, not even trying to get out of his bonds and crawl out of the hole. Mercury thought that with the combined strength of Sandman, Emerald, and himself they might have knocked the hero out cold, giving him the prime opportunity to make the final strike.

While still in the air, Mercury planted his feet downwards and used the gravity to add more speed to his decent. With both of his boots aimed dead center at Spider-Man's head, he was only a few feet away at finally ending the pest that was bothering his leader's plans for Vale.

What the young blonde learned in a young age did make him see that he could not be a Huntsmen, but all the times he was beaten up by bullies and had his butt handed to him by his family also taught him another thing.

"RAAAAHHHH!" Feet met skull, and with a large impact made significant damage to the victim.

It was the perfect hit, the perfect attack that could make any opponent be inflicted with a fatal wound.

Too bad that the one who was kicked in the face was the one who tried to deliver the final blow.

"Mercury!" Emerald shouted her partner's name as he was rocketed back in the air that half of his body was lodged in the roof of the bank.

Jaune's life may have taught him that he could not be what he wanted to be in life, but it also taught him another lesson he was thankful for.

It taught him how to roll with the hits. And with the bonus of his spider powers giving him super endurance, he was even more grateful that he could do this line of work without the worry of ending his young life.

Just like an actual spider, the hooded hero waited for Mercury to be within reach for him to spring his attack in to action. His lower body sprang upwards right before Mercury could land another hit and sent him flying away. With enhanced endurance helping him take his adversary's hits, Spider-Man's super strength also helps him dish the damage out to his enemies tenfold.

 _Aura helps shield the Huntsmen from damage, so I don't have to hold back on these jerks!_

With her partner currently indisposed at the moment, Emerald pulled on her weapon that was still wrapped around the hero so she could pull him out and make Sandman attack Spider-Man once more.

As she was pulling the chains, it soon became more and more difficult for her to reel it in making her wonder if Spider-Man was making her play tug of war. Not wanting to waste more of her energy, Emerald made one last effort to pull harder when suddenly, she heard the sound of metal being shattered. The grip she had over her chain felt slackened making her lose her footing and as she was still pulling back her weapon Emerald was only able to salvage half of her chain back with the rest still with the Spider.

Seeing that their chances of taking the hero down was dwindling, Emerald was about to cut her losses and tell the rest of her goons to drive the armored vehicle away before her face was completely covered in webs. With her vision obscured, the tan skinned girl clawed the substance off her face when she felt her sense of balance lean her forward.

Emerald tried to add all her weight to her feet so she could stay in place, but her effort was wasted as she was pulled by the web and straight to Spider-Man who was pulling her close to him. Her thoughts of escape soon ended when Spider-Man let the web line go and raised his arm parallel to the floor and closed lined the young thief. The force was so intense that her lower body swung under Spider-Man's arm and made her front flip four times, with the last flip only being half complete when Emerald's body slammed on to the ground front first leaving her in a heap of pain.

 _Yikes... maybe hold just a little bit._

"Ok," Taking the time to flex his body from the abuse they gave him, Spider-Man looked above his head to see his first attack still left the close-range fighter still stuck in the roof, the only thing visibly showing was only his waist down dangling like a ceiling decoration. "He can stay there for a while. Glad he was the first to be taken down, didn't want him to use his semblance. Now that I think about it, he never really used his semblance the first time we fought."

 _And speaking about using one's semblance…_

Shifting his eyes over his next enemy, Spider-Man saw the limp body of the green haired teen not even moving a single part of her body making it clear that she wasn't expecting an attack like that from the hero. "Don't have to worry about her either. Good, this should make the fight much easier."

 _Glad they thought they could finish me off quickly before I could fight back, if we fought on even terms I'm sure we would be making the bank a pile of rubble before the cops could arrive._

The thoughts of the cops arriving also made the spider themed hero think about the large commotion the crowd was making about him being Spider-Man made him wonder if the police will be more delayed. Leaving the hero to worry about how he should try and take the fighting to somewhere with less people around so they won't get caught in the middle.

 _The guy who does the kicking won't be leaving anytime soon, I just need to web the green one and I should only have to deal with Sa-_

Automatically reacting to his spider sense that was telling him of danger, Spider-Man jumped high in the air, shot a web string to the ceiling, and used his momentum to swing him so he could land in a crouching position while being upside down. The aggressor that interrupted Spider-Man's thinking was Sandman, who's entire body was no longer taking shape of a human, but was a massive mound of sand, was now in the hero's original spot in the center of the crater. The quantity of sand he was made of was so great that it not only filled the hole Spider-Man made when he impacted the floor, but was also starting to spread all throughout the room, making Spider-Man wonder if he was planning to drown everyone, both friend and foe, in a room full of sand.

Not even thinking, Spider-Man instinctively tried to save Emerald who was still on the floor with a web string attached to her back so he could pull her out of harm's way. When her still body was about to be in the air, Sandman sprouted a thin sand tendril shaped like a knife, cut the safety line, and wrapped his sand appendage around the young teen's midsection before Spider-Man could attempt to free her.

With the unconscious girl in his grasp, Flint turned back to normal and glared at the hero still hanging upside down. Flint shifted the girl's weight over his shoulder, turned his left arm into a long tentacle appendage, and reached for the second teen under his watch still stuck in the roof.

 **FWIP!**

Just when the arm was within reach, Spider-Man shot his web shooter at the arm and watched as the web was mixing into the sand and was slowly turning frozen solid. If Sandman could feel pain he didn't show it when he saw his arm beginning to freeze over in front of his eyes.

"Sorry, Marco, but this time I came prepared." The web head said while making sure he pointed his web shooter at Sandman in case he might lash out on him. "Don't expect our first meeting to be repeating again."

The ice didn't just stop at the arm though, cause as soon as it froze the arm the ice began to travel down till it was almost near Sandman's shoulder. Seeing the problem, the sand villain instantly severed his lost arm and backed away from it when the frozen limb hit the floor and shattered into tiny ice cubes.

 _Woah! I expected to only freeze his hand, but it completely took his entire arm! Maybe adding Ice dust in the webbing was a good call._ Spider-Man said in his head as he was seeing the effect the web/dust fluid was doing to Flint's sand body. _Which means this will be an easy fight if I can land another hit like that to Flint's main body._

"You shoot webs of ice now?" Sandman remarked making the hero shake his head to get himself to stop thinking and focus to the fight that was still occurring. "And here I thought you were just shooting regular webs like a normal Faunus." What Flint said made him chuckle under his breath. "You must be the same as me if you could do something like that."

 _Same as… Wait a minute._

"Woah there!" Taking his arms off the ceiling while his feet was still firmly planted, Spider-Man made a 'T' shape to show he needs a time out. "Are you telling me that sand is not your semblance?"

 _I can't really say that I'm surprised. The powers I have isn't my semblance either, so it really makes me a bit of an idiot if I think I'm the only one who has powers from a freak accident._

"Maybe." Sandman said. "Or maybe not. Doesn't matter any way…"

 _Spider sense…. Something is coming right at me!_

"Cause by the time I'm done with you…"

 _Move! Now!_

Trusting his instincts, Spider-Man front flipped away in time to dodge a large sand mallet that was just inches away from crushing him. Not taking to time to look back at Flint the masked hero used his spider sense, perfect equilibrium, and the ability to stick to any surface to dodge all the attack coming from underneath him.

"You'll only be just another bug that's going to be smeared all over the walls."

From the blonde hero's view point he was dodging each attacking from every direction like he usually does when fighting. But what made it much more challenging was the fact that he was doing such amazing feats of acrobatics while being upside down.

Many people that Jaune has known while being in Vale had cool weapons and a semblance tailored in their fighting style. From Ruby to her speed and Blake with her clones, but as for Jaune he was gifted with a very useful ability to have perfect balance in every angle. Now, Jaune was never one to brag since he had nothing to brag about before he was bitten by the spider that gave him powers, but like the bite entailed he was gifted with all the attributes a spider had.

And it was thanks to those abilities he could not get hit a single time from Sandman's assault at trying to catch the hooded hero. With Flint's failed attempt to surprise attack the hero again, he became more and more furious with how he couldn't land a single hit on the arachnid. That rage was soon channeled in to his body when his lower half turned in to sand and sprouted more sand tendrils to swat the hero in hopes that he could overwhelm Spider-Man in terms of firepower.

As more were being thrown in the heroes' way, Spider-Man's senses began to work faster and faster in telling him when danger is nearby and when he should move out of the way in time.

 _I'm being attacked from the bottom._ The back of his skull flared, making him roll to the side as he evaded attacks coming from Sandman below him.

 _I'm also getting attacked through the walls._ As soon as his back was flat on the ceiling, Spider-Man instantly flipped over to his hands and feet as to avoid a sand spike that jutted out of the ceiling that almost impaled him if he was just a second slower.

More and more attacks were thrown at the hero and each one was evaded effortlessly. With his expressionless mask and his professional fighting style to know when his enemy will attack, it looked as if Spider-Man was just biding his time and waiting for a good opportunity for Sandman to make a mistake and use that to the spider's advantage.

But underneath the calm appearance Spider-Man was showing was a young teen in over his head trying not to get hit from a more experienced fighter. For every time his spider sense told him when danger was near he would always react just seconds before the attack arrived. Some came one at a time, but soon it became more and more difficult for the young hero to follow where his senses were telling when the next attack was coming. Thanks' to Sandman's attack coming from all sides it was only a matter of time before either he couldn't handle the stress his spider sense was giving him or that Flint could get lucky and finally land a hit in the web head.

"Stop moving around!" Sandman screamed as he launched both his arms, morphed them in to larger fists, and aimed it the hero who was crouching on the ceiling.

Defying the laws of physics once more, the young blonde evaded the attack and spoke in his usual manner when dealing with criminals.

"Oh come on, Flint! The first time you caught me by surprise. And you know what they say…"

"AAAUGH!" Not allowing to have Spider-Man to finish his sentence. Flint sent half a dozen harpoon shaped sand spikes at the hero, each one being dodged and at the same time had the hero still talking to Sandman in a mocking tone.

"Hit me once…" Two spikes were impaled in the ceiling at the hero shifted his upper body to the right.

"Shame on me…" Not wasting another moment, Spider-Man performed a front flip to dodge another pair of deadly projectiles that was just an inch away from piercing both his eyes.

"Hit me twice…" The last two was getting closer and closer, but rather the dodging Spider-Man used his ice infused web fluid to freeze them solid and caught them right before it could impale him.

"Shame on you." Crushing the ice poles with his hands, Spider-Man was about to make another remark when his spider sense was flaring up to signal danger was near him.

 _It's coming from behind me! No… in front, left, right… ALL AROUND ME!_

Realizing what his danger instinct was telling him large sand spikes soon sprouted all around the hero in a neat circle. With each spike's pointed tip aimed at the hero and closing in on him, Spider-Man released his hold on the ceiling so he could escape leaving him open to attack while in the air.

"GOT YOU NOW!" Using the opportunity, Flint shifted a massive block of sand below and on top of Spider-Man so he could squish while the hero was vulnerable.

 _Attack from above. Attack from below. Attacks everywhere! My spider sense is going haywire!_

If there was one thing that was by far the most useful it had to be Spider-Man's one true secret weapon.

The ability to sense danger before it could happen: The spider sense. Even now the hero was always asking how this ability tied himself from that spider that bit him. All his other powers were directly resembled traits from a spider, but not his danger sense. It was a strange thing to have, like someone or something was right behind him, warning him that a foreign force was about to harm him. Yet at the same time he was glad that he had it, because time and time again he relied on it whenever he became too cocky in a fight or whenever he had a hard time trying to find crime whenever he was out doing his patrols. But sometimes it was hard to keep it under control, with so much use it became harder and harder to focus on daily tasks without having to sense minor threats like someone about to trip or about to collide with someone else.

That's why he usually must take all the danger one at a time so he can keep a focused mind on what's in front of him. If he allowed his spider sense to tell him everything around him he couldn't take the stress, not to mention still be sane. Though it does get him in harm's way such as the time Roman surprised him with that car explosion, or when encountering new threats such as Sandman. His ability to keep him several steps ahead of his enemies made him quite the formidable foe, but under stress such as this it was safe to say it was a good excuse to let his spider sense have a wider range then the small scope he usually keeps it at.

 _Ok, deep breaths. Don't just thinks about what happening now. Think about what's happening and more._

The sand pillars were closing in, Spider-Man still in midair, not moving a single muscle, and yet for everything that was moving so fast Spider-Man saw everything before it could happen.

The obvious thing that needed to happen was shooting two organic web lines on the wall and pull himself away from being crushed. When Spider-Man landed on the wall facing the villain he knew Flint already had his sand coursing through the bank, like blood flowing in a vein, so when he planted both his feet flat on the wall he prepared himself to get ready for the next attack.

The sand spikes were meant to be a surprise attack, but they were shown in plain sight to the hero as he dodged each one with adjusting each part of his body with ease. While he was dodging the spikes he also knew that Flint was closing in on him with his arms getting ready to pound Spider-Man into the floor.

Waiting for Flint to get much closer to the hero, Spider-Man back flipped off the wall, sailed over Sandman's head, and was now close enough to finally put this fight to a close.

"It's about time you change your name from **Sandman** to **Iceman**!"

Before Flint could change his direction to face the hero, Spider-Man shot several rounds of his prototype web fluid at the villain and at the same time made sure to stay in tuned with his spider sense incase Flint had another surprise waiting for him.

Each web shot hit Sandman in the chest and with each shot his body began to be frozen in place. Flint, seeing that he was being frozen was about to cut his losses and place his conscious in the sand beneath him. But as if knowing what he would do before he could, Spider-Man stopped using his web shooters, closed the distance between him and Flint, then delivered a fierce leg sweep that separated his frozen top half from the rest of the sand.

Just when Flint was about to hit the floor, Spider-Man grabbed Sandman with both of his arms, flung him in the air, and proceeded to keep the barrage of ice dust going. With the ice now fully covering Sandman completely, Spider-Man stopped firing, lifted both of his arms to catch the now frozen Sandman, and spoke to Flint who was still conscious inside the frozen prison Spider-Man placed him in.

"Now I know what you're thinking." Lifting the ice prison so Spider-Man spoke to Flint face to face. "And yes, I'm that amazing."

 _Time to suppress my Spidey scene, don't want to keep this up or else I'm going to have a major migraine._

The tingling in his skull soon became duller and duller, no longer did it give the hero constant information of what's around him. And with the high range it gave Spider-Man no longer use Spider-Man webbed the frozen hero on his back and proceeded to web the other two as well. But before the spider hero could repress all of it his senses gave him one final warning before it became nothing more but a small tingle in his head.

That warning was a bullet heading straight to the back of his head.

"Woah!" Moving his body to the right, Spider-Man saw the bullet pass him by as the fast projectile missed its mark and imbedded itself in the wall.

Looking at where the bullet originated, Spidey saw that it was the girl with the green hair no longer knocked out and with a surprised look at how he could evade her shot when his back was turned.

"Tch!" Not even caring if she was spotted, Emerald kept firing her gun at the hero, but each bullet was a miss as Spider-Man dodged each one while making sure he kept Sandman from being hit and set free.

"OK, I think that's about enough of you." Not wasting anymore time in the fight, Spider-Man shot an organic web line at her midsection, then used his super strength to pull her to him.

Not prepared for the force, Emerald jerked her head back as she was propelled forward, her body colliding with a firm hand stopping her from hitting the hero head on. With being so close to Spider-Man, Emerald wasted to time to turn her weapon into a blade to try and take Spidey's head clean off his shoulders.

"And enough of that too." Shooting his hand up to his head, the hooded hero caught her hand then squeezed tight causing the tanned skinned Huntress to let go of the weapon out of sheer pain her hand was in.

 _Not too hard, Jaune. She needs to be unharmed not harmed._

"So, I was just wondering something." Spider-Man made sure he kept his grip tight so she couldn't escape. "But I just got to know, is your hair really green? Or is normal to have hair colors like that when you're a Huntsmen?"

"Let me go!" Emerald said trough gritted teeth, using all her might to break free. "Don't you have old ladies that need help crossing the street or something?"

"Usually, but when it comes to something like this." The web head motioned the destruction all around him. "Then it's usually my business. You guys have some serious explaining to do. Starting with who sent you."

"If you really want to know who our boss is.." Staring at the hero, Emerald gave him a vicious smile before speaking in a vindictive tone. "Then look no further."

Not understanding what she meant, Spider-Man was about to web her up when suddenly, his eyes caught site of another person behind Emerald. Appearing out of thin air, was a woman dressed in a tight red dress, her figure slim with curves all in the right places, and long shiny black hair obscuring half her face made her look like she just got out of a fashion magazine. But what made her beautiful also showed malice as her eye began to glow red, her hands soon followed by igniting themselves in flame, what was once a woman of beauty soon turned into something that was born of flame.

"Um, hello." Spider-Man said weakly to the woman was has literal fire in the palm of her hands. "You must be the boss lady I've been trying to find."

Her silence only made the hero nervous, making the web slinger talk more.

"I must say you put the word 'fem' in 'fem fatal' to a whole new level. Heh, heh."

Still silence.

"Um, will you please surrender?" He asked, now even more nervous at how she hasn't responded to his lite humor.

His nervousness was soon proven right to afraid of her when the woman dressed in red fired a beam of fire aimed right at him.

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The first time Mercury heard about this guy dressed up and pretending to be a hero he thought that person was crazy. But the person who said it was his boss, so he made sure to say in his head if he wanted to remain in one piece rather than a pile of ash.

Hearing how this guy was some chump doing stupid stuff like help the elderly or whatever just made it even more reason to throw up at how goodie, goodie this 'Spider-Man was.

So, when his boss told him and his partner to off some guy that was a deserter from the White Fang, it was the perfect opportunity to draw out this guy acting like he was some great _champion of justice_.

When he saw what he was dressed as, Mercury had to suppress his laughter at how stupid he looked. The fight itself was not all that impressive either. Sure, the guy was fast, agile, and had some good moves but then again Emerald and Mercury was just there to draw him out. He was confident in his skills and if he wanted too he would have wiped the floor with this guy.

And what better luck then when they were at the bank, Sandman had the guy by surprise and delivered some nasty hits on him. It was always nice to put some people in their place, thinking they're so high and mighty just because they got lucky to be called a 'hero'. Not wanting to be left out of the fun he made sure to let Emerald know that he wanted to have a go at this hero and it was very enjoyable to see this idiot get tossed around like a rag doll.

 _It was like the guy didn't put up a fight at all. Guess this guy was nothing but stories._

With so much damage they inflicted on Spider-Man, Mercury wanted to be the one to finally put this guy down for good. To send an example to the kingdom that there is no such thing as heroes, so when his boots were just about to squish this guy's head like a bug.

He didn't remember anything else after that since he was hit by something hard enough for him to rocket high enough to be knocked out when his head collided into the ceiling.

"Mercury!" Emerald screamed then proceeded to slap his sleeping face. "Wake up you idiot."

"Waah? Oof!" Grabbing his partner's hand, Mercury shook his head and glared at Emerald. "I'm up, I'm up! Stop hitting me already!"

"I'm going to hit you again if you don't get your butt of the ground and help me." Moving aside to let her partner in crime to get himself off the ground, Emerald pointed at the web head who was fighting off an invisible force. "He's tricked for now, but I'm not sure how long he'll realize I'm using my semblance."

"You think we should fight him together?" The grey teen asked, messaging his neck after the amount of force required him to be a living dart.

"As much as I like for you to be kicked into another wall. I think we should cut our loses and leave with what we have."

"What we have? Emerald, are you saying we should leave one of our friends to fight Spider-Man?" He asked, his voice rising with every word he spoke to his partner.

"Yes." Emerald said while giving Mercury a blank stare.

"Fine by me." The young man no longer sounding serious. "Never liked the guy anyway. And besides, if what that ginger dude said to Cinder was true, then he can make as many freaks that we need."

"I'm glad you think so, but we still need a diversion so we can escape." Turning her head, she could already see Spider-Man stopping every so often to look around, as if he was trying to find them. "I'm already putting more and more illusions, but he's already breaking free."

"You want a diversion?"

"That's what I said you… wait, whatever your thinking don-"

"To late!" Moving Emerald aside, Mercury made a running start to the hero who was facing whatever illusion Emerald was giving him.

"Huh?" Sensing someone near him, Spider-Man turned his head in time to see the grey-haired boy awake and was now trying to hit him. But, Mercury was aiming for something they need as a distraction and that distraction was still in ice.

Boot collided with ice, like a dam being destroyed what it was containing soon overflowed with sand drowning not just the room they were in, but the entire bank too.

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 **And another cliff hanger! Man, I am really making you guys mad, aren't I. Before you leave a comment saying that I suck here me out. I wanted this fight to show how much Spider-Man was against Huntsmen and villains he fights in comics. While Mercury and Emerald have fighting experience and aura. Spider-Man can counteract that in spades. Sure, Emerald has illusions, but it still can't beat Jaune's Spider sense, at least to an extent. If the show revealed Mercury's semblance I could have written it differently, but since they didn't I just rolled with what I have.**

 **Spider sense is also hard to describe. In some stories it could be overpowered or just plain weak, but I would say it is real useful. Jaune just doesn't make the most out of it since he would have to sense everything around him which could make him have major headaches. I'm mostly making some parts from the comics where Spider-Man is an assassin and used his spider sense so much that it can predict an enemies attack. That is why in time Jaune will use it more and more that he could, in theory, use it just like the Assassin Spider.**

 **I also know that they don't have super strength like Spider-Man does, so it was safe to assume that they will be easily beaten by him. They do have aura that shields them from harm, but since that is true then Spider-Man can punch even harder since he knows they won't be hurt too much.**

 **All in all, Cinder's little henchmen aren't much of a challenge unless Spider-Man was caught off guard. Sandman on the other hand is more of a hand full, which was why he had the most fighting done in the chapter.**

 **I'm also sorry that I don't release a chapter every Sunday. I have been getting more and more preoccupied with daily tasks that I don't have the time, so I might release a chapter every other Sunday.**

 **And since you all don't like another cliff hanger, I will do one better and leave an Omake at the end of this chapter. Hope you all like it.**

 **Leave a comment, like, fav and check out my Beta-reader's own line of work. Thank you and get ready for the next chapter in the Amazing Jaune Arc.**

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OMAKE #1: A helping hand

"Excuse me! Have you see someone wearing a beanie riding a bike?" A young teen asked frantically to a random stranger. Only giving the kid a nasty look, the man shoved him away making the young man ask another person.

"Have you seen someone ride a bike around here?" He asked another random citizen.

"Get away from me creep, or else I'll call the cops!" She said then pushed him aside too.

For over an hour this young man has been asking every person on this street the same question: Have you seen my bike?

 _Come one! I need my bike! I have a paper route to complete and if I run late I'll be fired!_

That bike was his only means of transportation, a way for him not to use the gross public transportation, it was also a gift from his parents as a gift for getting a job at the such a young age too. It was supposed to be a simple task of deliver the morning papers to the same street he goes to everyday.

Which was why he was so used to it he never really thought much about leaving his bike somewhere so he could take his time to get some lunch.

 _This is one of the safest part of Vale, I thought I no one would steal from here!_

With the clock ticking and no one giving him an answer, the boy was about to call it quits when he saw a cop car drive past him.

"Hey!" He waved his arms to grab their attention. "Please, I need help!"

Not even showing any sign of stopping, the boy followed where the car was going in hopes to get their attention.

Not soon after he was running after the cop car for help he stopped to see that the car was parked with the officers getting someone down from the light post.

"Thank you so much, officers!" The mean wearing a beanie said.

"No problem, sir, just tell us what happened." One officer asked while writing something down on his small notebook.

"I was just minding my own business when suddenly some guy in a red and blue suit appeared in front of me, webbed me up, and put me on the lamp post."

Scribbling down what he heard from the civilian, the officer gave a nod of thanks. "OK, we'll make sure this will be sent up. Just don't think that this is his M.O."

"Maybe he really is a menace?" The second cop added his thoughts.

"Whatever or whoever he was that's still assault and I hope you guys catch this man, I can't believe he-"

"My bike!" The young teen shouted in joy in seeing that his gift from his parents was still intact.

With the sudden outburst, the cops turned their eyes on the young boy who was looking all over the bicycle to make sure nothing was out of place.

"Kid, haven't your mom told you not to touch someone else's property."

"And that isn't your bike, this gentleman says it's his." Pointing his finger at the man they set free, the one who was wearing the beanie stood frozen in place with sweat coming down his face.

Eyes widening from realization, the boy glared at the thief before taking his wallet out of his pocket. If they needed to be shown proof then that was what the boy will do.

"Here." Taking the paperwork out of his wallet he showed the officers he was the true owner. "It's under my parent's name, I also have the receipt if you need that too. I'm the owner and he stole it from me."

Looking at what the young man was showing him, he looked back to the man he saved who was slowing inching away from the scene, but was stopped when the other cop grabbed his shoulder and slapped a pair of cuffs on him.

"Sorry about doubting you, son."

"Yeah, don't worry about this guy either. Guess I was wrong about that jumpsuit guy." Escorting the man in to the back of their squad car, the cop who was writing notes looked back to the teen who was holding a note that was attached to his bike.

"You know, my partner may have his doubts about this guy, but that so called 'Spider-Man' really makes our job easier." After he said his piece the cop entered his car and drove off with the man who was caught red handed.

Now that he had his bike, the boy turned back to the post it card with a written message left by the one who helped get his bike back.

'Is this your bike? If not DON'T STEAL'

-Spider-Man

* * *

 **And this is my first shot at making an Omake. Please comment if you like it and check out my Beta-Reader's stuff too. Not sure if an Omake will be in every chapter, but I will make sure at least some chapter do. Thank you.**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15 Breaking It Down

Rewind the clock a few moments, while Spider-Man was still fighting Sandman, behind the bank where the remainder of the White Fang was currently posted as fake guards. Two guards standing in place stared at nothing, remaining motionless before one of them decided to talk.

"Hey, Simon." The Faunus with orange hair said to his friend.

"What?" Simon asked, still staring straight ahead and not looking next to him.

"Do you think we're doing the right thing?" He asked making Simon break his stupor and look surprised that his friend said that.

"What?"

"I mean… all of this," He waved his arm over his weapon and Simon's. "We're wearing uniforms from dead guards and keeping people hostage."

"We have too." Simon said with no hesitation. "How else will we make Remnant hear our voice of revolution!"

"Revolution? Dude, they are hearing us! And they're calling us 'terrorists'!"

"It's just the media trying to spin the tale that we're the bad guys." Simon argued.

"Then why is it that the Faunus in Vale hate us too?"

That questioned made him pause and think about his friend said. After a few shorts seconds of silence, he spoke but no longer holding the same devotion he had about the White Fang a couple of moments ago.

"That because they're following that traitor, Spider-Man. He's the reason the Faunus in Vale started to hate us and no longer join."

"Are you sure? Cause I heard he said he was never part of the White Fang."

"You don't have to be part of the White Fang to be called a traitor! He's a Faunus and he's supposed to support us!"

"Really?" The Faunus with orange hair asked, more confused than before. "So, does that mean we're terrorists since we'll harm the Faunus who don't support us?"

"Yes! I mean- NO! Why are you even asking these things?" Simon asked, his reason behind the cause no longer holding weight in his mind. Looking around to see the rest of his friends, he saw a few ears dropping on their conversation. "Stop talking and stand in position, we just have to wait until the humans get the Lien."

"And speaking about that, we're a group that was a symbol showing that we don't need humans, right?"

"Yes." Simon spoke in a nervous tone, not liking where this was going.

"So, why are we getting help from humans when we are supposed to show Remnant that we don't need humans? Does that make us terrorists and hypocrites?"

"Can you just," Simon's patience was slowly slipping, but he caught himself before he screamed. "Just drop the subject and wait till they're done?"

"Didn't we hear gunshots at the front of the bank?"

"I'm sure it was nothing, that girl with green hair said that her semblance can trick people's senses or whatever."

"But, won't Spider-Man come and wreck our plan?"

"Just shut up, Griffon." The red-haired security guard said then went back to his normal position to just stare ahead and ignore his friend.

"Ok, ok, fine." Griffon soon stopped talking and went back to just staring at nothing. With the talking now gone, the rest of the White Fang who was listening to them went back to just standing in silence. This went on for a few moments, with the silence being too quiet that some could hear loud noises coming from the inside of where the giant vault was.

"Hey, Simon." Griffon spoke again making his friend groan in displeasure.

"What?" Simon said angrily, grinding his teeth and trying not to lose his cool.

"Why are we her- GAAAAH!" As soon as he was going to ask his friend a question, the orange haired Faunus was shot with an electric dust round making him fall on the floor and shook violently as the volts coursed through his entire body.

"Gri- AAAH!" Just as his friend was taken down, the same thing happened to him when all sudden he was overshadowed by a large object crashing down on him, the surprise force making him hit the cement floor hard enough to knock him out cold.

The sound of their comrade's short cry of distress made the remainder of the White Fang turn their attention to see two young teens, their weapons drawn, and fired at the unprepared adversaries with fire and electric dust.

The armed terrorist group never stood a chance at the sudden attack, leaving all of them laying on the floor, each one being either burned or electrocuted with no sign of any of them getting back up.

"Dude…" Neptune whispered as he saw what they have done. "We are so awesome."

After that short sentence they followed it up with a quick fist bump.

"Yeah, not to mention lucky." Turning his pistols back on to a bow staff, Sun rummaged in his pocket to pull out small sand that was falling through his fingers. "The ice melted pretty fast, we would have been lost if it wasn't for the loud gunshots being heard from the front."

"How come we heard the sound of gun fire and screaming and yet these guys didn't do anything?" Neptune asked his friend in confusion.

"Maybe they didn't hear it? Or maybe we're that good, ever thought of that, Neptune?" Sun tried to give good reasons to his partner who was still unsure how easy it was to take the armed guards down with barely any resistance.

"I still think that this was too easy. Maybe Spider-Man is still inside taking care of the real threat?"

The blue haired human was going to say more, before several loud crashes were heard inside making the two teens to go back to their original plan to help Spider-Man.

"This is it, dude." Sun said in an exited tone. "This is gonna be epic."

"I'm not sure, Sun." Neptune drew his rifle from his back and aimed at the only door leading inside the building. "Maybe we should wait and catch the bad guys by surprise."

"No way! Come on, Neptune." The monkey Faunus patted his friend's back in reassurance. "We're Huntsmen, we're badasses! On a count of three we're gonna storm inside, guns blazing, and help Spider-Man with whatever he's facing."

"Ok." Taking a few deep breaths to calm him down, Neptune gave Sun a determined look to show he was ready.

"On three we bust this door open, ok?"

"Right." The goggle wearing teen spoke then placed his eye wear down to show he was getting serious.

"One… two…. THREE!" Shouting the last number, both teens let out their best battle cry and was about to open the door to fight a battle they were sure they would win.

That idea was soon shattered when the doors were wide open from the inside, large torrents of sand flooding out and pushing them away from the bank and in to the back of the Van. With the teens now in the armored vehicle, Sun and Neptune tried their best to exit but was overpowered by so much sand that it was impossible to leave.

As if knowing that they are in mortal danger, Neptune looked at his distressed partner and said his final sentence. "For the record, I blame you!" with his piece now spoken, Neptune also tried his best to escape the sand that was quickly devouring them.

* * *

Inside the bank was no different than the outside, each room being filled to the brim with sand that soon poured out to the open world due to not being able to contain it all. Some of the people, the White Fang that was beaten by the hero, were also being carried by the waves of sand and outside where they laid out in the open for everyone to see.

The two who instigated the flash flood, Emerald and Mercury, were non-existent showing that their plan of escaping was a success with no one knowing where they were. If the people who caused a small panic from the gunshots were bad, then the scale of the incident became Vale's breaking news when out of nowhere the bank suddenly gushed out tons of sand that flooded several streets making the news crews who were at the docks waiting for the masked hero to run their butts off to reach downtown so they could get footage of the accident.

With so much sand still in the bank people from the outside would assume no one could be able to be alive inside. Either from the gunshots that the terrorist organization made or from the weight of the sand, no one should be able to survive.

"Ngh!... ugh…. WAAH! What! Where!" Waking up from his momentary lap of conciseness, Spider-Man looked around his surroundings to get a grasp at what happened.

 _'I was fighting that fire lady, then suddenly White Fang showed up too.'_

"That chain girl!" Pounding a small sized hole in the ground out of frustration, Spider-Man scolded himself for falling for her tricks again. "Can't believe I fell for that again! Rooky mistake, Spidey!"

With his small rant over, the masked vigilante got back up on his feet and resumed his time to find out where he was. Darkness was all around him, not even a small crack of light was seen making it difficult for most people to struggle with where they are and more importantly, how to escape.

But Spider-Man wasn't most people and with his ability to see in the dark he was able to see just as fine as he would if he was in daylight.

"Everywhere I look is just metal walls with lockers." He muttered as he looked around for any sign of breaking out. "The sand must have forced me inside the vault."

 _'Thank you, night vision. Just another trick that comes in handy.'_

At times such as these, the blonde hero was glad he was gifted with the ability to see in the dark. Time and time again, he used it to sneak up on unsuspecting baddies that it became harder and harder for him to think he was still himself. For every complement he's thankful for his abilities, Spider-Man is also having questions about what he is now. He knew he was human, he's known that ever since he was born one, but to the public's point-of-view he was a Faunas just like everyone else who had extra limbs or other traits.

But to Spider-Man, he could not be either of the species. He was human, but no human could do the things he could. Nor was he a Faunus, for even they can't compare their biology to his.

It should be impossible to be human once, then become a Faunus in one night. But it happened, for some weird or unlucky chance, that spider chose him, out of all the other people in the building only he was bitten and became more then he is.

Even though he had the appearance of a human, inside he felt like he was more than any of the two species on Remnant.

He was more than Human…

More than Faunus…

Jaune is… he is…

A kid who was unlucky enough to be turned into a freak.

From a logical stand point, Jaune was some freak accident that shouldn't have happened. That bite should have killed him, or worse, turn him into an actual monster. Yet, he survived that horrible ordeal and became more then he could have imagined. Jaune still has his normal appearance, but also has the abilities of a Faunus and more, making him have both perks in living his life.

He knew the discrimination the Faunus has, he wasn't blind by the constant racial insults or how some people, human people, looked at them like they were animals. Jaune knew all of that because every time he dons the mask he sees how they're treated.

As Jaune he is human, but as Spider-man he is known for being Faunus. No matter which race he was only one thing remained the same. And that's when you see someone in trouble, be it human or Faunus, you help them no matter what. That's what any person would do, that's what Uncle Ben would have done if he was still here.

 _'No, no, no, no! Stop going down that road! You're Spider-Man, and right now Sandman is outside doing whatever damage he could make. There's gotta be some way to get out!'_

Finally taking a step forward, the hooded spider decided the best way to leave was to go the same way he was put in here. The vault door was designed to be thick enough to withstand heavy forces, from explosions and blunt forces the bank's vault door was made to be endurable.

"Alright," Stretching his arms to get warmed up, Spider-Man placed his hands on the heavy steel door and pushed. "Time to prove it! GRRAHH!"

Planting his feet firmly to the ground, the masked spider used all his strength into his arms to push the solid steel obstacle. With so much sand on the other side of the door, it made it difficult for the web head to push it open.

"Come oonnn!" He said trough gritted teeth. By planting both his feet firmly to the floor, add in the bonus to stick to any surface, Spider-Man pooled all his strength into his back and arms to force the doors to open. With both sides showing no sign of budging, it was only a matter of time before one side that isn't an inanimate object to begin losing the battle. "Open up stupid door!"

Not wanting to give up so easily, Spider-Man put more force in his push causing him to ear screeching noise to signal him that he was breaking trough. The sound of the vault opening did make him happy that he can escape, but he soon heard sand beginning to pour inside the small space giving the hero the feeling as if he was in an hour glass.

 _'If I keep opening the door the sand that's flooding the next room will go in here and suffocate me.'_

"I just need to open the door a little faster!" Now having a time limit to his survival, Spider-Man continued his momentum of pushing the door. With every second the door moved more sand began to fill the room and as the door was opening wider the hero could not see anything but sand gushing in to his already shrinking space.

"To much sand still outside," Spider-man was going to say more but stopped to shake his head when sand began to pour on top of him. "I'll be drowning inside by the time this opens."

 _'No… **NO**!'_

"No way!" Uttering those two words the young hero began putting more force in his body, making the heavy steel door open faster and at the same time letting more sand flood the safe. "I am not letting it end here! Not when people like Flint is wrecking this kingdom!"

With renewed vigor coursing through his body, the blonde spider pushed harder until the door finally opened wide and let all the sand fill the steel room completely inside with the hero still contained.

No longer having oxygen in the room and the weight of so much sand bearing down on him, Spider-Man used his quick thinking to use his ice webs to freeze the sand. The ice soon froze whatever it touched solid making the flow of Spider-Man's death slow to a halt. Now, no longer in peril, the web head made his next plan to punch his way out of the sand tomb and back to catching Sandman. Spider-man continued the same process repeatedly until finally delivering one final punch and shattering the thin layer of ice saw the light of day.

"I did it!" Taking in huge gulps of air, the hero lifted his mask up, so he could spit some sand that entered inside. "A few more seconds and I would have been a spider sandwich."

Bringing down his mask when he was done, the hooded spider saw that the original room that he was fighting now looked like a barren dessert, added with the fact that the bad guys he was fighting was no longer ago here made the results he made wasted.

"All this damage." He whispered. "Most of the money is gone and the building is completely ruined."

Already he could imagine his boss having a field day with this major incident and with Spider-Man being the main cause of it. After all, most of the people he passed by saw him web swing to the bank, including the hostages that was set free made J. J's claim that it was Spider-Man the reason the bank was in this sorry state in the first place might people think that he really is a menace.

"Why am I even thinking about that." Spider-Man used both of his hands to slap his cheeks. "The hostages are free, that's what matters the most."

 _'Now, getting Flint is my utmost priority. My only hope that those three haven't gone too far from here.'_

Spider-Man's idea of Flint escaping with the two criminal teens was soon replaced when he felt his spider sense telling him that danger was close by making him wonder if he could catch them before they go in to hiding.

"I wasted too much time pushing my way out to freedom, I am not letting these guys walk away!" Since running in the thick sand would slow him down the hero was close enough to the ceiling he chose to jump up, stick to the surface and wall crawled to where his spider sense was telling him to go.

"The back of the bank! They must be trying to get the rest of the Lien they stolen in to their getaway car!"

 _'Just a little further and… Made it!'_

Not even making a witty one liner before making his usual entrance, Spider-Man let go of the ceiling, shot two web lines to the back entrance to the bank, and sling shot himself so fast that he pushed the doors wide open. He expected to see Flint help his posse load all their stolen goods, with some of the White Fang pointing their guns at him in case he caught up to them, what he saw instead were several of the terrorist group on the ground and asleep. He also didn't expect to see two familiar faces he just saw not an hour ago now here, Sun and Neptune, trying to fight Flint Sandman who was simply standing in one place and waited for the two teens to use up all their dust rounds. As Flint waited for the barrage to be over, both weapons signaled their user that they were out of ammunition and telling Sandman that it was his turn to attack. Expanding himself big enough that he was the same height at the broken building, Sandman swatted the two away from the car as if they were bug in his away, turned back to normal, and entered the armored truck so he could leave before the cops could arrive.

"Sun! Neptune!" Before they could land, the spider hero shot two organic web strings, pulled them in midair, and caught them with one arm each his spider strength able to catch them with ease.

Setting them down on their feet, the hero looked at them to check if there was any permanent damage from fighting Sandman. The only thing they had was just torn clothing, dark bruises, and some minor cuts, but other than that most of the damage must have been lessened thanks to their aura taking most of the hits. It also made him wonder if aura was measured by each Huntsmen, since he was attacked just as much as them only he seemed to be fine compared to these two.

 _'Just another reason why I love my Spider sense!'_

Taking his eyes of the injured teens, Spider-Man saw the truck was about to go full speed to leave the damaged area with all the money.

 _'He's getting away in the armored car! Guess he's getting desperate to not get the police on him if he's doing that. I need to make sure these guys are alright, but I don't Sandman escaping. Wait, maybe this can help!'_

Taking out the small radio he webbed to the inside of his hood, the spider hero threw the item to the back of the armored vehicle and at the same time shot a small web glob to make sure it stayed in place.

 _'Yes! Thank you, little league practice! Though I was mostly a bench warmer, I still can't believe I made that throw an- oh, yeah, I need to make sure these guys aren't have dead.'_

"Are you guys alright?" He asked.

"Just a few scrapes and bruises, but we can survive." Sun said while giving Spider-Man his signature grin. Though if Spider-Man could look closely he could see some crimson liquid seeping at the corner of Sun's lips he didn't comment and looked at Neptune who was holding his left side.

"Man, who knew sand could hit that hard." Putting both of his hands on his hips, Neptune bent backward and let his spine pop before standing up straight. "He looked far less scary on TV then up close."

 _'If their cracking jokes, then their fi-'_

"Wait a minute…. Sun? Neptune? Why are you two here?!" Now that he was glad that they were ok, Spider-Man's happy exterior quickly vanished and was replaced with anger to the two reckless Huntsman who lied to him. "You both were supposed to stay at the docks to call help and instead I found Sandman beating the ever living tar out of you guys! Explain! Now!"

Both teens flinched when they were being shouted by the hero, making the blonde Faunus speak to Spider-Man sound nervous. After all, they not only lied to a professional hero, they also couldn't beat Sandman and let him get away with the Lien.

"Well, Spider-Man, sir, we caught the White Fang by surprise" Sun waved his arm to the knocked out fake guards still laying on the ground. "And we heard some sounds coming inside the building."

After Sun explained that they were the ones who took the armed robbers down, Neptune stepped forward and started to tell why they are here.

"So, we decided to get inside and since we knew you were fighting Sandman by yourself." Neptune was going to say more, but winced and held his left side, the pain still lingering from that last attack they received from Flint. "We were just about to swoop in and help, but suddenly we were being carried by sand!"

"If you were here for that, did you guys see two other people with Sandman? One was female with tan skin and green hair with a boy with silver. Did you see those two with Sandman?" Spider-Man asked Neptune.

"A girl and a boy?" The goggle wearing goy looked at his partner who also had the same confused expression. "We didn't see anyone else. We were knocked inside the van and when we tried to get free the sand that trapped us turned into Sandman. After that, well, you already see the results of what happened."

 _'They didn't see the other two? Does that mean Sandman is stealing the money all by himself?'_

"We're really sorry, Spider-Man." Sun spoke up again, his cheerful voice no longer present. "We took a piece of that sand to track you down, but when we arrived we only got our respected butts kicked."

"We didn't even bring any other forms of dust," Neptune slapped his head for their stupidity. "We only bright a few rounds and we knew Sandman was here and yet we never brought any ice dust."

"Even our aura couldn't protect us from most of our injuries. Not even my semblance couldn't do much to help us." The blonde monkey Faunus let out a disappointed sigh. "We even wasted your time to help us while the guy is driving away with all that money!"

 _'Oh! Snap! I really hope I turned that thing on or else I just wasted that thing. Their also right, I should probably get back to that and ditch these gu- No, no, no! These guys just wanted to help and now their depressed because they couldn't do anything. I was just like them and I won't let them blame themselves for this.'_

"Look," Bringing the two out of their funk, Spider-Man took a calm breath and spoke in a reassuring manner. "It sucks that you guys wanted to prove that you could handle this and then realized you were in over your head."

As soon as the spider said that the two boys looked down to the ground, even more dejected that the kingdom's friendly Spider-Man said that to them.

 _'Ok, not a good start, but I can fix this!'_

"And it's normal to fail. After all, I wasn't this good from the start."

"Really?" Sun asked, his gaze no longer on the floor and back to the hero.

"Yeah, it took a couple of tires to get this whole actual hero thing a shot, but in time I got the hang of this." Now that he had their attention again, Spider-Man placed his hand over their shoulders and started to speak in a more confident tone. "I didn't just throw this costume away and gave up. No, I got back up and kept going. Yeah, I know setbacks and failures suck, but it makes you more motivated to keep going until you finally get it right. And trust me when I say this, but it feels really, really amazing when you get it right."

"Yeah, your right." Shaking his head from side to side, Sun went from gloomy to happy after he git words of encouragement from an actual hero. "Thank you, Spider-Man."

"We really shouldn't think that we have weapons, aura, and a semblance that we can assume that we can handle all the fighting." Neptune puts in his own thoughts. "We can't all assume the people we fight won't be pushovers."

"Exactly, I'm glad you two understand." He said, glad that his words of encouragement reached them in to realizing not all fights can be easily won.

"Um, does this also mean that you're not mad at us?" Neptune asked, even when his confidence was back the blue haired boy still felt nervous that the hero might snap at them again.

"That depends, did you guys call for help?"

"No." Both teens said in unison.

"Then, I'm still a bit mad." Now that their spirits were lifted, Spider-Man web lined to a high building and looked back at them. "Now, Like I asked before. Please stay here and call for some Huntsmen. Sure, the authorities are here, but a little more muscle wouldn't hurt either."

"Don't worry, Spider-Man we'll do that."

"Good, Sandman can't be too far, if he doesn't want the police to chase him he'll have to use the truck to stay off their radar."

"Which means it'll be easy for you to catch up to him." Neptune explained how Spider-Man would catch the bad guy.

 _'Not to mention that make shift tracker I attached to the truck.'_

Spider-Man was just about to leave them behinds, but stopped to say I last thing to them.

"Thanks' you two." The hero said with such sincerity both Huntsman-in-training looked surprised to hear that after the huge mess up they made not a few moments ago.

"Why are you thanking us? We totally screwed that up. "The boy with blue hair asked.

"Neptune's right, even if you say it's not our faults you really shouldn't be thanking us."

"Because even if all this didn't go exactly how you wanted it to be. You still helped and for that I thank you." After he said his parting words, Spider-Man looked ahead and web swinged above to higher ground to get a better view on where the bank truck was going.

* * *

 _'Wow, that little radio is working! My spider sense is reacting to the frequency it's emitting.'_ While web swinging from building to building his body was already automatically moving to where Sandman's location is. _'There he is! He's heading out of down town, probably trying to head to whatever hidden lair to stay lay low, but I'm not this end like last time!'_

Letting go of the web line that he was swinging with, Spider-Man nose-dived straight to the truck and just when he was within reach shifted his body to hit the back doors of the vehicle with his feet to force them open so he could enter.

 _Get down!_

"Woah!" Ducking down on all fours a large sand mace sailed past him then retracted back to flint who was half paying attention to drive while also trying to get Spider-Man out of his escape car.

"Hey, two hands on the well, flint! That's how accidents happen mister!"

"Oh, will you just SHUT UP!" Screaming in frustration, Flint morphed his hands in to a large wall of sand and pushed Spider-Man out of the truck with the back doors being knocked off their hinges.

Not wanting to be road kill, the spider placed a web line on the bumper of the vehicle and gabbed one of the back doors to make a make shift board. With one underneath his feet, Spider-Man used his other hand to shoot a web string to the catch the other car door that almost landed in some random coffee shop.

"Hey, Flint! I would hate for you to lose this, so here you go!" Bringing his arm forward, the door shot past the web head and impaled itself inside between flint and the seat next to him.

Now seeing an opening, the hero pulled his line to launch him in the air and land on top of the roof. His feet firmly planted on the high speeding metal death trap, Spider-Man crawled on all fours, opened the passenger side door, and took a seat next to Sandman who was trying to keep the automobile from sputtering out of control.

"I'm sorry to say this, but you're in no condition to drive." He said mockingly. "Here, let me try!"

Not even wasting another second, he shot a small web string to the wheel and pull a hard right making the vehicle drive out of the road and crash into a half-finished construction sight.

* * *

 _'It was supposed to be one big heist and after that I could be done with being a petty crook.'_

When the high speeding automobile crashed in to a solid concrete pillar the only body that was flung through the front window was Flint. Sandman's body no longer being human crashed in to the solid ground, his form no longer taking shape and leaving nothing but a sand trail.

'Just on last score and I could put all this behind me.'

Due to how far Flint was thrown and using so much sand back in the bank he was only able to make the top half of himself. What also showed as fatigue of using his ability to much is that he was still sand and not in his regular form leaving what looks like a broke faceless creature.

 _'I got these powers for a reason.'_

His body beginning to shake from fear of not turning back, Flint thrashed about like a man drowning when out the corner of his eye he saw a small piece of jewelry. His panic soon forgot, Flint reached to grab the piece of silver, but when his hand tried to grab it his fragile sediment hand soon crumpled.

 _'Come on! You can't hold her if your arms are so fragile!'_

Using his will to shape his hand in a more denser form he tried one more time and dragged the jewelry close to him. Lifting the silver necklace to his face, flint used his other hand to open the small pendant to show a picture of a small baby.

With determination back in place, Flint used all his strength to from his legs and tried to stand up, but as soon as one leg was taking shape the other gave out and he soon went back to being legless.

 _'You can't go to her if you don't have legs to take you.'_

Focusing more on his legs he soon raised himself up on two, fully formed legs and took a few steps to test if he was stable enough to keep moving. With his mobility back in action, Sandman looked back at the picture and saw his reflection still looking like a monster.

 _'You want her eyes to see her father, not a monster!'_

Reaching deep into his mind, Flint used all his memories of how he looked before the accident making his sand shaped body soon bleed in more definition. His legs were soon covered in a pair of pants, a green stripped shirt soon came next, and after his clothes were made the rest of his body soon turned back to his normal self.

After his body reverted to his original state, Flint started to take several breathing exercises to calm himself down. Even if his body was completely made of sand and no longer had internal organs he still made sure to take in oxygen to have some normalcy in his already out of control life.

Flint checked his body if he missed anything that was not in place then looked at his daughter's picture that was in the palm of his perfectly formed human hand. His expression was solemn, knowing the fact that even if there was a chance he might be caught he still wanted to at least try to make a run for it and see his child one last time.

His thoughts of escaping were soon stopped when he heard movement coming from the wrecked vehicle. The car soon started to show sign of shaking followed by the passenger side door being punched out of its hinges and landing several feet away. Flint's thoughts of leaving all of this behind were soon being destroyed one by one when he saw the masked vigilante crawling out of the car with no visible signs of damage from the wreck.

 _'How are you still alive?!'_

Just seeing the hero made his vision turn red, his body reacting to his emotions began to lose his shape and was soon replaced by sand.

 _'I could have just left and I wouldn't have bothered anyone ever again, but you keep trying to stop me.'_

Taking one more look at his daughter's face, Sandman shifted the sand from his hand to absorb the locket and glared ahead to see the hero now on his feet. Taking this opportunity to end this stupid chase, Sandman made one last promise to himself and charged with no other reason but to end Spider-Man.

 _'I promise I will come back to you, I just need to do one more thing and I'll be back to help you build a perfect sandcastle.'_

* * *

"Ugh! My head keeps spinning." Spider-Man said while leaning to the side of the wrecked car. "I really should have thought a better idea then destroying the car."

 _'On the bright side, I was at least lucky enough not to hit anyone and crashing into a construction site with no one here is also a plus.'_

"Still, I'll have to ask Aunt May to teach me how to drive, if I ever decide to take the wheel again."

Due to Spider-Man's super endurance it was possible for him to take the force without having any serious injury inflicted compared to other people who would have got of a situation like this in a body bag. But despite being durable enough to handle the crash, the wall crawler still needed time to get back to his feet due to the vehicle being airborne after he made the sharp turn leading to the dig site.

 _'Why is that I get airsickness whenever I enter anything that lifts off the ground? I can go over 60 Mph while web swinging, but can't handle it if I'm in some mechanical death trap. Even with spider powers, I need to make a list of things I can and can't do when this is all over.'_

Leaning on the side of the armored car that wasn't destroyed he tried to attempt to take a few seconds to get his stomach to calm before chasing after Sandman. That chance of getting his intestines untwisted was short lived however at Sandman used the opportunity of the downed hero by slamming Spider-Man's head on to the reinforced metal. His head leaving a perfect imprint, Flint also used this opportunity to completely turn in to living sand, wrapped himself around the hero's waist, then started to slam him repeatedly on to the hard cement floor.

Spider-Man thought that having a sick stomach was bad, but being slammed repeatedly head first was worse. The web slinger lost count after the tenth slam, but as soon as he felt his body stopped moving he let out a breath of relief that the ordeal was over. The breath of relaxation soon turned to panicked hyperventilation when he was raised higher in the air and was thrown across the constructions site. With the speed that he was going not even the stone pillars that was built to hold whatever building was going to be made were destroyed as Spider-Man's speeding body crashed through them.

Going through several stone pillars, the web head finally lost the momentum to keep going and started to descend back to the ground.

"You couldn't have just let me get away, huh?" Flint said while walking to the hero who was desperately trying to get his eyes to stop spinning. "I kicked your sorry self not too long ago. You know I can beat you and yet you still try to stop me!"

Seeing as Sandman was just close enough for him to web him up in his prototype web fluid, Spider-man raised his arms and triggered his web shooters to pelt Flint with enough ice to freeze him in place.

 ** _FISSS! FISSS!_**

 _'No! No! NO! Now is not the time to run out! And the worst part is that since I rushed myself to change into costume I didn't think about making spares!'_

His short panic of not preparing for a situation like this was stopped when his spider sense automatically made his body move out of the way when a giant sand hammer came down to where he was originally positioned.

"You can walk away from this." Flint bargained. "Let me go and I you'll never hear from me again."

Suddenly, the wall crawler was assaulted by images of a man running past him came to the front of his mind. The same man who he let go, the same one who took an innocent man's life because he decided to be petty and looked the other way.

"Never." He said weakly, getting himself back up even after the brutal attack Flint inflicted. "Sorry to tell you this, Flint. But I'll never walk away."

 _'Come on, think with your huge brain! There's got to be another way to stop him.'_ Searching frantically for some solution to solve his dilemma, the spider hero looked behind Sandman to see a crane holding up a pile of steel beams raised to the second floor of the unfinished building. _'Wait! What's that thing on the second floor?'_

Squinting his eyes, Spider-Man saw a huge cylinder machine next to several bags of cement making his mind flair up to signal it has an idea.

 _'That's a cement machine! And if I can just get those steel beams… I only have one shot, I better not waste it!'_

"You really want me to kill you?" The sand villain said in confusion. "What makes you think you have a chance? We're out in the open, I have the advantage and you don't have enough places to do your fancy flips!"

Not saying any more words, the Faunas hybrid took a running position, facing right towards Sandman, and without even a warning dashed without abandon.

"Are you really serious?" Flint morphed both of his arms in to two giant hammers. "Are you really risking your life to play Superhero!?" He screamed then launched his twin hammers straight to the running hero.

 _'Just a little closer… NOW!'_

When Spider-Man was just close enough to Sandman he used his amazing agility to dodge the attack, jumped high in the air, and pointed his hands to the steel beams that were above them.

 ** _TWIP! TWIP!_**

With two web strings attached underneath them, the hooded spider was already soaring above Flint's head while also pulling the web lines to tilt downward. As the stack of heavy support beams were being pushed down, one by one they fell on top of Flint, crushing him flat and pinned to the ground.

Not finished with his plan, Spider-man landed in a crouch, turned around, and started to web the beams that were sticking out of the ground.

 _'I need these webs to be wider!'_

By that thought alone his webs that were usually thick like a rope soon started to go wider, like plastic wrap and formed a perimeter trapping Flint in one place. After spreading the webs around the beams to form a large bowl like shape, Spider-Man jumped on top of the makeshift prison and saw that Flint was already getting himself back onto his original shape.

"For the record Sandman," Spider-Man shot a single web rope to the cement maker that was on the floor above them. "It was never about me playing superhero."

Tugging on the line just a little sent the machine to barrel down to the first floor aiming directly where Sandman who was looking surprised at what was falling. The heavy machine collided with flint so hard that it caused him to lose his shape once more and with the cement mixing with sand and slowly turned his body in to stone.

Not taking to chance, Spider-Man webbed a few bags of cement from the same floor he got the cement maker and thrown those in just to make the process go even faster. Adding more into the mix he waited to see if Sandman had any other surprises left but didn't feel his spider sense tell something was going to harm him.

"Is… Is it over?" He asked himself, his body now showing fatigue after such a grueling fight. "Thank goodness, I'm not sure I have anything left to throw at him."

The fight at the bank, being imprisoned in a sand tomb that slowly suffocated him, and not to mention the fight from Sandman made the heroes body push itself to the limit. After all, he never had to fight this long since he usually dealt with low tier type of bad guys, but with a special case like Flint he supposes that he should expect more fights to be just as hard.

 _'And now that he's not going anywhere, I think it's a good time to finally prove J.J wro- WHOA!'_

"Oh, come on! Are you serious right now, Remnant?" Taking a defensive stance, the arachnid hero watched as the mold soon cracked revealing Flint, whose body was still slowly turning into stone, tried to escape his stone prison.

Spider-Man was about to use his webbing in a desperate attempt to stop him, but was shocked to see that the cement was still working. But even when he was about to be fully incased he desperately tried to get out of his prison. Extending his hand out to reach the edge, Flint was only a centimeter away until the amount of cement infused in him finally took its toll on him and turned him solid. The only visible movement was his index finger twitching until it stopped moving and broke off from his hand.

The web head was silent, he couldn't really understand what he just saw. For a moment, he thought that Sandman would use the last of his power to land an attack. Instead, he just saw a man, the fight no longer in him, tried to run away and failed.

Taking out his camera, Spider-Man found a good view to take of stopping Sandman, took a couple of shots, and looked at the imprisoned villain one last time before leaving the scene when he finally heard police sirens coming to the area.

For some inconceivable reason, he felt like he was the bad guy.

* * *

 **And that is the final chapter of Sandman fighting Spider-Man. Did you guys love it? Hate it? Either way, please leave a comment and fav if you guys want to keep reading. Now, I know there are some things that are left out, like the whole Sun and Neptune fight or why Jaune's web shooters ran out, so here are some answers.**

 **For Sun and Neptune, I didn't really put much effort in to a huge fight scene, because when they use normal means a Huntsmen uses, then it was obvious Sandman was going to think their useless and swat them aside. They also don't show they bring any other forms of dust, like Ruby with her weapon, so it was another obvious thing that they could really land a hit on him. That was why I showed how they really couldn't last long in the fight. Don't get me started on Sun's semblance, it's kind of like Blake's, but when you fight a guy like Sandman out in the open it doesn't help much.**

 **For the web shooter, I also wanted to show that they are not infinite, if you all remembered from the start of where Jaune dresses up to be Spider-Man he never thought of bring any extra. That is why in the next few chapters or so he will constantly upgrade his suit so it will be just like the one Ben Reilly uses. So far, he is only wearing a red jumpsuit and a sleeveless hoody, he doesn't have pouched like the suit Ben Reilly uses. Making him start to keep upgrading his stuff to fight greater threat then Sandman and not just think that his powers alone could help him.**

 **Then there is the part with the whole cement thing that was somehow in the construction sight. Let's be real here folks, cement makers and cement bags are always in a construction site and like all stories Spider-Man uses his quick mind to figure out how to save the day. He uses tools that will help him and since he saw a lot of construction tools he might as well use them.**

 **I also like to add, on a personal note that Jaune is Spider-Man because it is like an alternate universe where Peter did join his parents and died with them. Leaving Jaune a perfect candidate to fill the role as Spider-Man. I mean, other iterations of Spider people replaced Peter Parker, Gwen Stacy, Miles Morales, and even other Marvel heroes took the mantle. Another thing I hear is why he's wearing a super hero costume when almost everyone on RWBY shows their identity. That is quite simple, because it's the same way Peter wears his Spider-Man costume. I know it might not make sense but I will further explain further into the story.**

 **Either way, I also like to inform you all that it will now take a bit more of a longer wait time between chapters. The reason is that my Beta Reader: Maestro Of Madness has his own stories to right and having to proof read mine takes his time to do his great work. That is why the chapters might have an irregular schedule, but it will still be released on a Sunday. I hope you all understand and thank you if you all will be patient enough to get the next chapter.**

* * *

 **The Omake will probably do more then just Spider-Man helping people. Like this Omake for example.**

Omake: Castle of Sand

It was supposed to be a simple job.

 _'No… I can't break another promise.'_

Mustering his measly will power to construct himself a half-baked body, Flint looked at Spider-Man, who looked to be just as tired as he is, getting ready for whatever attack Flint was going to throw at him.

 _'I wasted enough time with you!'_

Turning away from the vigilante, Flint began to leave this place and return to his daughter when he started to feel his lower half begin to stiffen.

 _'I won't break another promise to her!'_

Images of his daughter played in his head. Her sand castle misshapen but still holding strong, just like when he was a young boy who loved playing in the sand, made him more motivated to leave.

 _'Just a little more…. Need… To…. Move…'_

But with all the strength he could scrape up, Flint couldn't move when the cement finally reached his main body.

 _'Please, let me help her build her perfect castle.'_

His eyes soon going dark, Flint had one last memory of his little girl before the light in his eyes no longer shined brightly.


	16. Chapter 16

**This is** **his new beta here, Brotherhoof12 does not own RWBY or Spiderman. This is Fanfiction, made for fun. Please enjoy reading.**

* * *

 **(Chapter 16: Center Stage)**

* * *

Vale was always a place that holds many things, be it human, Faunus, Huntsmen, criminals, etc. They all live in this kingdom, as well as the other three. Each kingdom had their own set of problems, too, either being Grimm, robberies and even the White Fang, it's all the same to the four kingdoms. Yet, when it comes to Vale and the people residing in it, has one thing that the other three kingdoms don't have.

The friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

It was due to his acts of goodwill that people started to see some changes for the better and with the capture of Sandman, it made his wide spread acts of heroism beginning to reach beyond the walls of Vale.

When the news showed how powerful Sandman became, Atlas, Haven, and Vacuo became worried that someone like that will be going to their home and make it worse. Even the council had trouble wondering how someone like that is capable of such things making people (mostly the rich) even more prone to have added security on the (wealthy) streets. Yet at the same time people are now less afraid with the villain in stone and more in the hero craze thanks to their masked man.

Said exploits were still going around with everyone talking firsthand accounts about how they saw the hero valiantly save the hostages in the bank and stopped Sandman from getting away with all the money.

News like that still spread and news publishers like the Bugle, still send stacks of news like this and spread it all over Vale for everyone to read. One such stacks of said news was delivered to a vendor this morning who was busy talking to one of his regulars. With him busy, both the vendor and the person he was talking to didn't notice a single line of webbing stick to a stack and took it without a trace.

"EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it!" Spider-Man screamed as he swings from building to building. "Don't forget to read your daily dose of the news. Can't start your day without reading the morning funnies!"

To say the spider wasn't happy could be compared with Ruby liking her weapon. After he took the pictures showing him capturing Sandman he also doubled back to get photos of the bank so he could show them to his boss. It made J.J less furious with Jaune that he didn't slack off on his job, but made him even more angry knowing that Spider-Man still showed to be a hero.

Spider-Man was all too happy to help the Bugle in spreading the news by personally delivering it to every apartment he sees. He especially made sure to drop off each paper near their windows and even went face to face with a few who cracked their window open.

One of the tenants, a mother with frizzy hair with bags under her eyes, opened her window to take a smoke break from giving her kids their breakfast, tried to lite a cigarette when suddenly, she heard a voice right next to her.

"Mornings, am I right?" The wall crawler asked with the mother staring dumbly at the hero. "Can't say I blame you."

"S-s-Spider-" The tired mom was about to say something, but was interrupted when her kids saw who was at the window and screamed with enthusiasm.

"SPIDER-MAN!" They shouted as they crowded behind their mom to get a good look at the web hero.

"Hey, kids!" He waved at them. "Are you getting your mom trouble already? It's not even time for school!"

The mother's children shook their heads and denied what Spider-Man said.

"Really?" Moving his head, he saw their plates were empty. "Then I assume you all will put away the dishes and clean the table, right?"

As soon as they heard their idol say that, they all went in to action and helped their mom clean up their mess.

"Hope you like the morning news, Ma'am. Especially now that your morning chore just cleared up." Handing her a folded newspaper the hero was about to web swing away before he felt his arm being grabbed by the mother.

"Wait." Her eyes now showing full alertness and no longer drowsiness. "Before you leave, can I ask you a question?"

 _'Well, this is new.'_ Spider-Man thought with surprise. _'Usually they just stared at me and makes me feel uncomfortable, but this mom wants to talk to a guy wearing a leotard.'_

"Sure!" Planting his back firmly on the brick wall he used his ability to stick to any surface to sit. "Ask me anything you want. Minus who I am, of course."

"Um, wow, you got to give a minute here." She took a long drag of her cigarette then smeared it on the window sill. "I just wanted to thank you for letting us have our home just a little while longer."

"Little longer?" He tilted his head in confusion. "I'm not sure I follow. I'm also pretty sure I wasn't in any board meetings of any kind regarding your home."

When she heard the bland joke he made, she couldn't help but laugh at his obliviousness. "Yeah, I guess you were busy stopping those radicalistic terrorists from killing people." Her cheerful demeanor soon went to sad when she turned her head at her kids who were arguing who should do what.

"If you haven't noticed, or you just don't care, this apartment complex isn't really pretty compared to the new ones that are popping up." Reaching where her pack of cigz, somewhere that Spider-Man shifted his eyes away to not peak, she lifted one to her lips and started to light it while talking.

"This place in one of the few places that people like me can afford, that's why some of the people are trying to throw ideas on how to keep our homes."

 _'And this involves me…. How? I'm sorry, I should say something like that- Wait, why am I apologizing in my own head? Focus darn you!'_ Spider-Man furrowed his brows under his mask.

"Well, to keep it short. This apartment complex was about to be removed like all the others and we never had enough time to have some room to make them not destroy this place, but with what happened to a certain incident…"

 _'Don't tell me...'_ The masked hero widened his eyes.

"Something having to deal with you and that freak destroying one of those construction sights, it gave us enough time to try and have more ideas to make this place stay permanently. We even got a petition started to have this place not be condemned."

"Well, glad to help you!" He said in his usual cheerful tone. _'Glad to hear some people happy I caused so much damage to public property.'_

Even when Spider-Man does good deeds, somehow and someway, he always finds a way to ruin it. Many people think of him as a hero, but at the same time, others think he's a reckless menace. He did save people from the White Fang, but in the process, the bank was ruined due to damages caused by him when fighting said radical group. He caught Sandman and saved all the money, but the bank suffered massive amounts of property damage since Flint decided to go full sandstorm on him. But of course, another major problem he made was destroying public property when he decided to trap Sandman in cement.

Though J.J is still mad that he doesn't have solid proof of Spider-Man being a phony, the man can still put on a smear campaign of Spider-Man being a reckless idiot who put people's lives in danger.

And just like most people of Vale there were those who agreed and those who didn't, a prime example is the lady smoking right next to him. He could also assume most of the people living here also agrees that what he did was a good thing, albeit, not to the rich who spent their money on trying to make new building that try to get people like her evited from their homes.

Though, Spider-Man could assume that they have insurance in case their renovation plan went south, so, really, the only thing that the people who could afford things probably dislikes the hero for ruining their things rather than plain hate him. All in all, the kingdom's perspective of the masked spider is still half and half on with both sides standing on their belief on the hero of Vale.

"I still feel like I should have done better." He whispered softly to himself. After he said that, his eyes widened behind the mask. "I'm sorry! I'm sure you don't want to hear my problems."

"No, no," The mother shook her head. "I'm honestly glad that you said that with such honesty. Most of the time, I usually hear stories of how most Huntsmen, particularly the young ones, wreck places like these all the time and not get in trouble."

 _'They destroy public property and they don't get in trouble?'_ The blond hero blinked in surprise.

Whenever something like this happens when Spider-Man does it, he usually gets in more trouble with the police and even twice as hard when J.J tells how he's a criminal on paper. To hear that Huntsmen, those like Sun and Neptune, who go to learn to keep the kingdom safe would wreck someone's property and not get the consequences baffled him.

"I'm sure they get in trouble." He imagined Ruby acting like a scared puppy when she was taken in by a tall mature woman at the same police station where Mr. Macrren went when he was robbed by Roman's gang.

"You think?" She raised one of her eyebrow. "If you don't know then, maybe the rumor of you not being an actual Huntsman really is true."

 _'Does being a Huntsman really give this much attention? Even though I see people buy stuff that looks like me, I guess I still can't make people stop believing that I'm a huntsman. Even though I'm not.'_

"I think the one to blame is that headmaster guy. He always shields his students from the kingdom, even when said students don't even feel guilty afterwards."

"Headmaster? You mean like a principle?"

"Kind of, he oversees training those entitled brats and can even decide to either accept them or deny them to train in his school." Looking away from the hero to the now short death stick in her hand she smeared the cigarette on the wall then flicked to the butt to the bottom level. "If you ask me, he should step down from overseeing that place if he condones those kids like them being are so called ' future protectors' when they trash our kingdom every so often on the weekends."

 _'Headmaster of Beacon... does that also mean he was the one who denied my papers to enroll there...?'_

It has been some time since Jaune's mind drifted back to the day he first entered Vale in hopes to be a Huntsman. That day was also the point where Jaune finally opened the letter to see that he wasn't accepted at all. To add more salt on that fresh wound he was already at the front of the school where security was checking to make sure only students who enrolled entered.

 _'I especially hated the looks I got from the guards who escorted me off the premises. The looks of pity and judgment, I hated it even more when teens who did enroll started to look at the only guy who didn't make it. All of them, whispering to each other, not even thinking I would hear them.'_ Jaune narrowed his eyes at the memory.

' _Better luck next time.'_

' _Can't believe Beacon already has a drop out.'_

' _Is he at the wrong place?'_

' _Loser.'_

' _Sucks for him.'_

His mind was so engulfed with negative thought of that ordeal that he had to shake his head when he saw that the woman was looking at him with worry.

"Sorry, I Just zoned out for a moment." Spider-Man apologized.

Seeing the hero like this made the mom wonder on what's going through his head, but when she turned her head she already saw her kids put everything away and went to their rooms to get their school supplies.

"I should probably get ready to take my kids to school." Putting away her pack of smokes, the mom looked at the hero with a grin and spoke in a happy voice. "Wait till the girls from the nail salon hear that I got to talk to Spider-Man."

 _'You can't wait to talk about this to your friends? Lady, shouldn't your kids be the happiest that they saw me? I guess even adults can still be hyped up from seeing a hero in action_.' Jaune smiled.

"Take care, miss." Giving her a wave, Spider-Man then saw the kids all dressed and ready for school. "You have fun in school! Be sure to listen to your teachers, study, and if you see some bad guys, who should you get for help?"

"Spider-Man!" They screamed.

 _'I was hoping you guys would say the police, but that works, too.'_ The blonde teenager smiles even more.

Waving goodbye to the family, Spider-Man jumped and started to swing from building to building, delivering the rest of the papers before finally stopping on top of a random rooftop. After the ordeal with the bank and Sandman, not much crime has been happening save for the usual purse snatcher or accidents, giving the friendly neighborhood wall crawler extra down time to just sit back and enjoy the quiet morning of a kingdom just waking up to start the day.

The sound of cars beeping, construction noises, and people shouting profanity at each other was the only thing Spider-Man could hear from the kingdom's early morning.

"Watch where you're going ya' fool!"

"If you buy this thing you don't really need I'll give you another thing you don't really need half off!"

"This kingdom will end if we don't repent for our transgression!"

"I can't believe you're going out with her over me!"

"Baby! I can explain!"

"You're going to explain why you're dating my _mother?_ "

"No! I was going to explain how dating your mother is so much better than going out with you. I was also hoping you give me the spare keys to my place, so I could give it to your mom."

"I'll kill you!"

 _'Yup,'_ Spiderman nodded to himself. _'A quiet morning in the kingdom of Vale.'_ He relaxes his body and let out a loud muffled yawn trough his mask.

His tranquility had to come to an end when he felt his scroll vibrate inside the pocket he sewn into his costume's blue hoodie. What came out of fighting Sandman may have given more attention to the web slinger about never underestimating one's enemies, but the battle also taught him a lesson in preparation. He could always be ready if he ever stops a random mugging or your typical shake down with ease. Now that you have someone like Sandman and those killer teen assassins from whatever school taught them roaming around, it made Spider-Man learn that he's dealing with more than your average gang with guns.

' _Yeah, go figure digging deeper and deeper into this will make it harder for me._ ' Spider-man thought that if he could take down Roman then Vale can breathe a little bit easier knowing that one of the most wanted criminals have finally been sent to prison. As it turns out, all he did was open a whole can of worms in the process.

Spider-Man's mind also went to Sandman and what he told him about being the same as him. What Flint said made the web head think of many different theories, but in all those ideas only one thing stayed the same.

Oscorp.

Oscorp was the reason why he became like this in the first place, so it could be possible that Flint either stumbled upon something there that made him into Sandman. Or that someone in Oscorp is using people as experiments while keeping Harry's father oblivious to the culprit's actions.

 _'This is far bigger then Roman, bigger than me, if someone in Mr. Osborn's company really is making people like Flint become that powerful, I need to step up my game. Wait! Does that mean whoever made that radioactive spider that bit me know who I am?! Can't be, or else they would already try to ruin me and my identity.'_ He brought out his phone. _'Think about this later. For now, just look at the scroll.'_

With that in mind, Spider-Man had to make some major adjustments to his small arsenal when it showed some flaws during the fight with Flint. His web shooters had to be disassembled due to so much sand, but luckily, he could fix it and put it back together. Another problem he faced when fighting Flint was his web fluid, as great as they were, the biggest drawback that he could think of was when the web cartridge runs out. Making sure to have extras was the easiest to fix the problem, but that also opened a new challenge to the web head.

His suit doesn't have pockets.

 _'I never really thought of adding pockets since that would mean having to buy extra sewing material. But I think spending a bit more wouldn't kill me. Running out of ice webbing while fighting Flint made me realize being cheap on equipment isn't a smart idea.'_

The wall crawler knew that his suit needed to be upgraded since it was just a simple red jumpsuit and a torn hoodie. Now, his hoodie has a sewn in pocket making it easier to store items like extra film for his camera or snacks in case of a long stake out. But a single pocket wasn't enough for the wall crawler, so he decided to add something extra to his suit. A common belt was used to hold small compartments that held different variations of his web fluid including his regular web fluid just in case of emergencies. He also made the trouble to make two bigger pouches that hold bandages and painkillers if he ever needed them, but since his belt was already full, Spider-Man decided to attach them to his ankles, making it easier to know which one holds which.

 _'It feels weird adding extra weight to myself, but I guess it pays off to be ready.'_

Thanks to the needed equipment the web slinger could now be able to answer his scroll while still in costume. He expected to get a phone call from his Aunt since he left early, but looking at his scroll, he saw that his alarm clock was signaling that it was almost time for school.

 _'It's already time for school?'_ Looking away from his scroll, the hero saw the clouds of Vale starting to part to let the morning sunlight out. ' _I'm still far away from school, so I'm pretty sure I'll be cutting it close to being late .'_

Deciding to no longer think about it, Spider-Man rolled up his last newspaper, shoved it in the pocket of his hoodie, and made his journey to school. As he was swinging from building to building, he was too focused on getting to his destination that he missed one bystander near an opened window reading the latest article. That article also showed a picture of the ruined bank, most notably two young Huntsmen standing proudly next to a small group of White Fang members still knocked out. Though the front paper did show Spider-Man saving the day it seemed that the Bugle decided to add something new to the paper with a bold head line to give the two young Huntsmen some notable praise.

'THE TRUE HEROES OF VALE!'

* * *

As the morning sun began to shine brighter on to the kingdom of Vale, one place that involves training the next generation of Huntsmen had once again been visited by groups of reporters to get the latest scoop on the next best thing. But instead of focusing on the invincible girl, the group of photographers and reporters were now focusing on two young boys who not only saved people from getting harmed, but also took down several terrorists all by themselves.

"So, how did you guys do it?"

"Did you two ever thought what would happen if Sandman did try to kill you?"

"Have you fought along the wall crawler? What was he like?"

"What are your views on the masked vigilante? Was fighting the White Fang a statement to how Huntsmen could do the job while still staying within the law?"

Like a swarm of vultures spotting a juicy meal, when the Bugle published the papers revealing a second party involving the capture of the terrorist origination, many news producers flocked to Beacon in hopes to know more.

It wasn't long till the two young men who fought at the bank were found and surrounded by a dozen reporters each one with flashing cameras and pushing themselves closer to the confused students. Each news reporter trying to get a better shot at their faces while others getting a written statement of what they did on that fateful day.

With so many civilians pushing and shoving to hear what the young teens had to say, both Sun and Neptune could only stare at the cameras in bewilderment and wonder how just one picture of them made this much commotion.

"Were you just there to help the people trapped in the building or just to show Spider-Man we don't need him?"

Hearing that question made the blonde Faunus finally snap into reality and looked at the reporter who asked that question.

"We wanted to make sure the people were safe and we saw that the White Fang was there and decided to do something." He answered without hesitation.

"Does that mean you decided to take action without the approval of Vale requesting service from Beacon?"

"What?" Sun looked even more confused when he heard that. "We saw trouble and we wanted to help. If it wasn't for Spider-Man already being there I'm not sure what would happen."

"So, you say that Huntsmen now have to rely on masked vigilantes to do their jobs?" A random voice spoke within the sea of reports making everyone with a camera to flash more pictures and to write down what Sun was going to say.

"That's not what I meant!" He spoke, now replacing his nervousness with anger with how that last reporter said that remark.

"But does that still justify that you still acted even without the consent of Beacon or the kingdom of Vale?" The same reporter asked.

"Hey, Spider-Man was there helping people and we wanted to do the same thing! That's all there is to it!" Neptune spoke on behalf of his friend who was struggling.

"Does that mean you guys will put on a costume and say you're a superhero too?" Came another snark remark causing the group of people to chuckle at the young boys.

"That's… we… ummm…" Sun tried to come up with another explanation, but every time he does the people that were interviewing them kept twisting their words.

No longer having anything to say the group of reporters started to swarm them with more questions and writing down their own ideas as to why they joined Spider-Man at the bank. All the while, a group of girls were just a few feet away from the debacle each having a different opinion of the display they were seeing.

The leader of the group, Ruby Rose, was looking at Sun and Neptune with confusion at how they garnered so much attention from just one encounter with the web hero. What's even more confusing to her was when she read the morning newspaper to follow on what Spider-Man was doing she saw that Sun and his partner were also a part of it.

She didn't really care much about them being famous or her team not getting credit for stopping Roman at the docks. What she felt wasn't jealousy for them, rather it was pity since they are being swarmed by annoying reporters, but she also garnered anger at how the Bugle depicted Spider-Man in the papers. Vigilantism was the usual insult they throw at the web head, but even though he caught the bad guy they made Spider-Man sound worse the before.

Vandalism, assault, reckless endangerment, and other big words Ruby couldn't pronunciate were slapped on to Spider-Man's already long roster of 'offences' brought up by the usual Editor-and-Chief J. Jonah Jameson. Even when there are people who seen his heroism, like her and her team, some people in the kingdom who read something like this still believe Spider-Man is a criminal.

Ruby's older sister, Yang, was more confused at how the two boys she met just a few weeks ago are now the talk of the kingdom after getting a single picture of them in a newspaper. After all, her team was also fighting alongside Spider-Man when they had to stop Roman at the docks and yet not a single camera was aimed at them. The blonde teen also wondered how they blamed the damaged caused by Sandman on to the web head with most people believing the BS that was in the papers.

Sure, she never met the guy, but what she heard from her baby sister made the blonde brawler assume that Spider-Man could never do such things. In fact, Yang could even think that the guy behind the mask is just some regular dude that never done anything bad in his life. Thinking about that made Yang wonder if he even had a single bad bone in his body, even more funny was in her head was an image of your everyday typical nice guy making her laugh at what she thought about the hero. Yang does like bad boys who are total rebels against the law sometimes, but that image of what Spider-Man could be when he wasn't a hero made her think that her sister does like boys who are straight laced. It even made her confirm her belief that Ruby's first friend, Jaune, might have a chance to win her little sister's heart, it was an even better chance knowing that Yang approves of the two hooking up.

If Jaune was one of those guys who just wants another girl under their belt, then it would have been an entirely different story. One that involves her fists connecting to his face, but after encountering Jaune she can assume the one who will call off the relationship if it goes south will probably be Ruby.

 _I honestly thought she would find Huntsman around our age while in Beacon, but I guess this could be a good start for Ruby to learn how to be in a relationship._

After all, it might sound harsh to say this, even by her standards, but she really thinks that Ruby could do better. Yeah, she does approve if the two might go out, but first-time relationships don't last that long. Maybe hanging around Jaune could show her sister that she could do better.

The leader's partner, heiress to the SDC and titled 'Ice Queen' only looked at the two buffoons for just a second before reaching for her scroll to see some real news going on around Vale. She could see that all of this was just a simple publicity stunt to make people in the kingdom even more heated about Huntsmen and this so-called hero roaming around stopping crime.

She wasn't dumb, she knew how the news works since she herself was used to it when she was young. People tend to forgive cold, cruel, corporate business men if he had a young child to show his 'fatherly' side.

She can only assume that it was a fluke that they did this all by themselves fighting the radical group while also making sure the people who was held hostage were safe. The young heiress could only shake her head at how the Council is trying to spin it around, how Spider-Man was in the sidelines while two, young, inexperienced, Huntsman-in-training somehow pulled it off. People love stories like that which was why Neptune and his partner were being overcrowded by so many reporters.

She almost feels sorry for them.

Almost.

If they wanted something like this, then they should be ready to face it and not freeze up when the opportunity arises.

All talk and no substance. That's what she thought when Neptune tried to flirt with her to see if she would fall for his game. She seen his type before, even knew what was the first line he would try.

The amount of times she was called 'Snow Angel' could be summed up to how much money her family gains every day. Which was a very large amount. No, she held no emotions for concern for the two who finally got noticed, she could only hope that all this flashing lights and annoying crowds won't bother her and her pursuit to become a full-fledged Huntress.

Perhaps she can respect the vigilante for at least not using the news to his favor, if reading about how he always runs when cameras arrive she could at least give some scrap of respect that he sticks to his morals to help people and not bask in the glory.

She can never really give her full trust to him, in her life she can at least remember one thing she learned when she was growing up being the daughter to one of the riches, most hated man in all the four kingdoms.

Never trust a person wearing a mask.

Weiss can only hope that her partner will know this soon and start realizing that her idol is still a vigilante and not a law-abiding citizen. And speaking about being a fan…..

"Yawn~!" Blake Belladonna, the fourth member of their team, Faunus in hiding, and ex-White Fang member was currently fast asleep on a stone bench taking a cat nap. Apparently, she showed her own way by simply sleeping, even though the day has just started, it was understandable, though, since she took another night to not rest but investigate why the White Fang became more active.

The black-haired Faunus kept the same routine of always staying late ever since one of her friend's she knew before enrolling into Beacon was attacked while he was closing his book shop for the good. The young Huntress made it her mission to understand why the White Fang became more proactive in their mission to silence those who were once part of the movement. It was still a nice thought that her old friend and many other Faunus decided to leave the toxic group, she could still remember the reason as to why some of them turned deserters.

 _"I'm not here to stop the White Fang. No, I'm here stop dads and moms for committing crimes they tell their kids they should never do. I'm here to make sure young boys and girls who are just entering adulthood know that their life's just beginning and that they shouldn't waste it here."_

Those words still echoed in her ears every time since she first saw him at the docks. Despite the way he looks and fights, she still couldn't think of a single word to describe him but amazing. His reason was all to true and it made Blake feel even more relatable to the hero. She wants the same thing he wants too, but he chose a different path that gave results in the most fascinating ways.

 _'Wait… what? Fascinating? I must really need some sleep if my mind keeps wandering to that topic.'_ Blake thought.

Shaking her head from simply being tired from another night of no sleep, the cat Faunus cracked one eye open to still see Sun and his partner frozen like a deer caught in the headlines.

 _'Don't care.'_

Closing back her eyes back, Blake drifted back to sleep and allowed her mind to go through all the information she had collected these couple of weeks. She thought that when she opened up to her team after dealing with her past at the docks, everything would calm down for a while.

She should never be that optimistic.

Blake knew that even with most members of the White Fang defecting, some would not be able to live in peace within the kingdom, and even if they could, the White Fang doesn't take desertion well, she knows that far better than anyone.

She shouldn't be that surprised that the group she once thought was right would stoop so low as to kill one of their own members. But it still caught her off guard when one of her old friends called her after he was attacked by a pair of assassins.

Not the White Fang who takes their loyalty seriously, but young, _human_ assassins that tried to take his life. Blake felt helpless, a friend that needed her help and yet she was here, talking about homework and worrying about getting the ire of deputy Goodwitch. The more she thought about how a friend of hers back when she was a member about to be killed without her help made her have doubts. She enrolled in to Beacon for not just for security and protection from her enemies. Blake wanted- no, hoped that when she enrolled she could be trained to be a Huntress and try to bring both races to learn to live in peace. That was why being a Huntress was so important, if she could be a Huntress then maybe people would finally listen to her and not just brush her off like some raving mad woman.

But luckily, her friend told her not to worry when a certain masked Faunus appeared and stopped them from fully committing the act, giving Tukson the opportunity to get the police. It also made his plans to leave the kingdom even more urgent and leaving his store earlier then he originally planned. The black-haired Huntress was glad that her friend was saved, but her mind also made her think of another dark idea.

 _'What about the others who decided to defect from the White Fang?'_ The back of her mind asked.

She could already tell that Tukson had luck on his side when Spider-man showed up, but it also meant more Faunus who wanted to leave are also dealing with the same punishment.

 _'Spider-Man is doing far more better job out there than I am staying here. Was being in Beacon the right choice?'_

Every time when her worries involved situations like this, it always leads up to another part of her little investigation, Roman, and most certainly #1 target in Vale: Spider-Man.

 _'Sure, he saved my friend from being attacked, but what about the possibility of it happening again? He can't always keep his eyes on everyone that's in danger, The White Fang will hunt down those they think are a traitor to the cause, and Spider-Man is no exception either.'_

"Blake, hey, Blake, you there, partner?"

 _'Now what?'_

Cracking one eye open, Blake saw her partner standing next to her with her fingers in a snapping motion to wake her up.

"You finally finished with your cat nap?" Yang joked.

Not even making a sound after that bad pun, the silent member of the team sat back on the bench, starched out her arms, and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

"So, finally decided to grace us with her input on this? Or are you going to go back to the library? If you are, then you're bad at hiding of how much of a Spider-Man fan you are than Ruby is trying to eat cookies in her bed." The blonde brawler said in her usual upbeat voce, then automatically raised her right arm to stop her younger sister from tackling her.

"Yang! Stop it~!" Her little sister pleaded while trying to stop her sister from laughing.

Now, no longer feeling as tired as before, Blake checked her scroll to see if any of her old contacts messaged her. Not being the type to sit idly by, Blake became possessed at trying to further learn the movements of her old group, it even made her delve deeper into the history of the wall crawler and how he also fits in to all this.

So far, she only has small details of how the group have been losing members after Spider-Man stopped Roman from the docks. All well and good, but it only decreased the threat in Vale while the other kingdoms still showed most Faunus either being part of the White Fang or the other half being treated the same. What news from Spider-Man only showed that he started popping up just a couple of months before this year started making her wonder if he really is just like her.

 _'It does make sense in a way, I did leave the White Fang before the school year started making it possible that Spider-Man really was part of it. But he said he wasn't, so it could be coincidence.'_

"Tch!" Scratching her head in frustration, Blake ignored the banter between sisters and walked out of her group to go back on the hunt for information.

Blake could hear her team calling her name and asking what she's doing, but still the cat Faunus walked past the journalist and other students to head for the library. The black-haired huntress knew that spending all her time in the library is straining her team's dynamic. She said that she would be more open and trust them, but she just couldn't let Spider-Man handle all the work.

And even when her friends would try to stop her from using the school's library she can always find one in Vale. Using all the information she can gather, there is still one thing she hasn't tried yet. One source she can use to see if she can get just a few moments of Spider-Man's time and figure out what's happening in Vale.

Spider-Man's partner in crime: Jaune Arc.

* * *

The commotion stirred from campus grounds still holding so many reporters and students all gossiping about the threat of Sandman gone. It made the headmaster of Beacon just stare down at the bottom of his school while drinking his coffee and taking in the morning with a calm mind.

"And this is our morning reports, sir." Glynda said in her usual strict tone. Walking around the desk of her boss the blonde Huntress handed over today's folder, took a few steps back, and waited for Ozpin to look over what was on paper.

 _'And now it's ruined. Remind me again why I made you deputy?'_

Taking in a few more sips of his coffee, Ozpin placed the warm mug on his desk and started to read what was handed to him.

The headmaster of one of the most prestige's schools for Huntsman always hated reading the morning reports. Either it was another wide scale 'friendly' fights happening or Professor Port deciding to bring in another Grimm to show the class. Ozpin just lazily moved his eyes from one word to the next as usual, but as soon as he was about to close the folder he stopped when he read over some wording he hasn't seen from a long time.

Re-reading to paper again to make sure this was right, Ozpin looked over to see his Deputy give a nod to show that what he was seeing was true.

Turning his gaze back to the folder, Ozpin let out a breath his forgot was holding and placed the paperwork down in his desk.

"Have you given a call to them?" He asked.

"Yes, Sir." She pushed her glasses back in place. "And the parents are still not taking heed to my advice to let their child finish the first year. They seem very sure of themselves that they don't want their child being taught by us."

Looking at the Kingdom through the window, the grey-haired Huntsman can only guess why the parents think Beacon isn't able to teach their child to be a proper Huntsmen.

Ozpin wasn't a fool to think his school is perfect, there are times when he gets situations like these due to either by accident or one of the students pushing their title of being 'Huntsmen' a little too far in Vale. This though was by far the newest he came upon and he can only assume through time it will multiply.

"And did you call Qrow? Did he have anything to report?" Ozpin asked then walked back to his desk to take a seat.

"Same as the last time he called in." Letting her guard down once, Glynda let out a tired sigh before her face became stoic like always. "Even when he uses his semblance he still couldn't keep tabs on the vigilante for just a few seconds before he moves again."

"That does seem problematic." Ozpin intertwined his finger in front of his face in thought. "Qrow's semblance gives him a great advantage for gathering intel and spying on enemies, but to know that even he can't get close to Spider-Man could be problematic when we try to contact this hero."

"Do you have any other plans?" The green-eyed deputy asked. "Sooner or later Spider-Man will start getting himself deeper and deeper into our little battle with the Queen, not to mention how Miss Rose and her friends aren't too far behind either."

Staying silent in thought, Ozpin started to think of how this might play out in the end. He was expecting team RWBY to have the most interaction within the kingdom, but with the rise of Spider-Man dealing with the crime of Vale made the team stagnate. Most of crime involving the White Fang and Roman were mostly being handled by Spider-Man, so he could at least know for certainty Spider-man is a force for good.

 _'Still…'_ He frowned.

"The Councils already has their sights set on Spider-Man and they need us to try and show that we are indeed professional Huntsmen. Already people are putting more faith in the masked vigilante than they are of us."

"So, you still plan to try and make contact ahead of schedule?" Glynda asked while staring down at the large group of reporters still trying to ask the two boys who were at the bank a few more questions.

"It's a waste of time to fight someone who is doing the same thing we are doing." Reaching for his scroll, Ozpin decided to finally change tactics to dealing with this new player on the board. "Perhaps it's more beneficial if Qrow would meet Spider-Man with a different approach."

* * *

 **Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, I'm sorry if this was late, but I wanted my Beta-Reader to take a break from helping me to do his own work. When you leave a like, Fav, and follow be sure to see his stories too.**

 **Unfortunately, Maestro Of Madness can no longer help me due to our hours being incapable of contacting each other, so he will no longer be my Beta.**

 **But, with the help of two new Beta's,** CrazyCriticer46 and ahsoei, **were kind enough to help me start up my story!**

 **This chapter is, as you all know, is just the aftermath of Spider-Man seeing the effects he made after fighting Sandman. Some people think he is still a criminal, while others say he is a true hero, but in the end, it's still half and half. I know I haven't added other problems he caused like the riot or Captain Stacey, but they will be added in the next chapter.**

 **I even made sure to finally get the RWBY cast to have some time in totalk with each one and having different thoughts on what's going on around them. Of course, the one who is most affected is Blake who is now having the effects of trying to track down not only leads to her old organization, but now has her sights set on Jaune to see if she can meet Spider-Man (Jaune).**

 **And then we have Ozpin not only getting the same complaints from the council, but parents trying to get their kids to study somewhere else. With so much work Spider-Man is doing, parents are now having a negative perspective on Beacon and how they are training their kids. In time, you all will know more repercussions will start popping up the more Spider-Man keeps interfering with the main story plot of the show. Either way, this was just another break chapter before the next main event to happen.**

 **Give thanks to my Beta-Reader: CrazyCriticer146 and ahsoei**

* * *

 **(Omake: Giving Directions)**

* * *

Everyone who lived in the kingdom knew how to get to their destination, they had to if they don't want to get lost in the concrete jungle.

"Excuse me."

But sometimes, people who live outside of the Kingdoms tend to visit either to do trade, start a new life, or just visit family.

"I'm a bit lost, can you…"

And just like those who lived in a village, they tend to get a bit intimidated when they enter, even nervous when being assaulted with so many sights around them.

Prime example of one who lived in a village all their lives was this elderly woman trying to ask for directions.

"How can I read this darn thing?" She said in worry as she looked at the directions of the street signs then to the small slip of paper with a street written on it. Trying to take one more attempt to ask for help, the grey-haired woman looked around her to try and ask other people to help her find what street she has to take.

"Excuse me." She tried to get the attention of a man wearing a clean business suit who ignored her and focused on whoever he was talking to in his scroll.

"Ma'am can you.." Another try lead her to talk to a girl wearing headphones and walking her dog, but she too walked past her even when the old woman was right next to her.

Soon her worries became much more terrible when she looked around to see that she was in a different part of the kingdom. She was so focused on getting help that she made herself even more lost in the proses. Feeling a large pit form in her stomach, the lady was wondering if coming here to visit her family was a mistake when suddenly, she felt someone tap their finger on her shoulder.

"Ma'am, are you lost?" The sound of a young man asked behind her.

Finally feeling her luck was turning around she looked to whoever was talking to her, but when she was going to speak she closed her mouth from what she was seeing. She expected to see a someone normal, but instead she was greeted by a tall male wearing what appears to be a bug costume.

This was the type of person she told her kids when they were young not to talk to and said person was now talking to her.

"Can I see that piece of paper?" He pointed at her only direction to her family. "I'm not going to rip it, just want to know what street your looking for."

Seeing as she has no other choice, the old woman handed the paper to him.

"Thank you." Looking at the paper for just a moment, the red and blue themed stranger gave the paper back to her. "Well, luckily you aren't too far from where your heading. Just keep walking forward and then take a right and then after passing two blocks the street you're looking for will be there. Here, let me write this down."

Scribbling down the direction to her, Spider-Man gave her a small wave and was about to shoot a web line, but stopped when he had a frail hand grasp his arm.

"Thank you very much." She sounded relieved. "I was sure I wouldn't be able to find it. Is there any way I can repay you?"

With the mask hiding his surprise, Spider-Man just waved his hands in front of him. "No, I just wanted to help, that's it. You don-"

As if on cue, the masked hero's stomach growled to signal that he was hungry.

Seeing that this was her opportunity to repay the favor, the woman looked around for any food stand when her eye spotted a churro cart just across the street. Not taking no for an answer, she grabbed the young man's arm and motioned him to follow her.

"It's the least I can do, Mr…." She stopped walking and turned her head to ask the kind gentleman a question. "I'm sorry, but I never got you name."

"Oh, um, they call me Spider-Man." He said while moving his eyes to see most of everyone on the street either looking at the strange sight or taking videos or pictures with their scroll.

"Spider-Man?" She tossed that name around her head before she went back to pulling him to the food stand.

"Well, Spider-Man, A hero like you needs some food to keep old ladies like me from being lost after all." After she bought to her a churro, the senior citizen finally made it to her family's home (with Spider-Man also deciding to escort her there) and regaled them of a story of how a little old lady like her met a real-life superhero.

* * *

 **8,582 words.**


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17 Surprise visit

"Come one, Jaune." Harry Osborn, son of Norman Osborn looked at the classroom clock above the exit door of first period nervously. "It's been two minutes since the 5-minute warning bell…. Don't tell me your running late."

If there was one thing that Harry can always expect when school started, was that there was always a chance that Jaune would be late. It was never really a common thing, the blonde-haired boy started out in the beginning of the school year, but soon fixed that problem when teachers started to get his Aunt involved. At first, Harry thought that he might have picked another bad friend, the kind that his father told him to never associate with, but soon after Jaune started to fix whatever problem he had and became even more devoted to his school works.

' _I hope you haven't gotten into trouble. You can't do this when Aunt May needs you more than ever!'_

"Just one-minute left..." Harry whispered. "…Is work making you late for class now too?"

Time and time again, ever since Uncle Ben passed away, Harry was always worried how Jaune could help his Aunt keep the house with so many bills piling up. After all, he was the only friend (besides Gwen) that knew the type of situation Jaune was in. It proved his point of having his friend work for his father, even more proven with how Jaune was going to be late in less than a minute.

 _10.. 9… 8….7…._

With only just five seconds left, Harry was about to give up on the notion of expecting Jaune to arrive in class, but when the final bell sounded he saw a mop of blonde hair bursting through the door.

"Made it!" Jaune said in relief. "I'm not late, thank goodness…"

"You're not late, Jaune… But do sit down and open your notebook to take notes on the lesson." His first period teacher said while not leaving his sights on the board.

"…Oh!" The blonde teen's face turned a bit red from embarrassing himself with how loud he was a few seconds ago. "Yes, sir."

Scanning the room for a spare seat, Jaune saw Harry waving his hand to show that he saved a seat right next to him. Now, no longer having to search for a chair, Jaune only took several steps to sit next to Harry, before he heard a familiar voice spoke next to him.

"So, the true heroes of Vale..." Flash Thompson said out loud, causing Jaune to stop mid step.

His face changed to shock at hearing what Flash had said, causing the blonde spider to check himself in case he left anything out of the ordinary.

Like usual, Jaune was sporting his black Pumpkin Pete's cereal hoodie with the mascot logo in the center and a pair of faded torn jeans. Instead of his clothes that he thought was the problem, he saw a sleeve from his costume hanging out of his backpack, making Jaune to shove the costume back inside and quickly zipped it back up.

"That's not true!" He denied making everyone, even the teacher, to stop what they were doing and look at Jaune with confusion.

' _Great, I made it even more obvious now. Please, don't mind the loser who just screamed during class, we can all just laugh and forget this happened!'_

"…It is true, Jauney boy!" Flash glared at the nervous geek. "It says so right here."

Typing a few letters on his scroll, Flash Thompson showed Jaune the news he was reading on his scroll.

Taking small, calming breaths, Jaune looked at the screen to see the bank he saved from being ransacked by Flint and the White Fang.

 _'Oh gosh, thank you! It was just a misunderstanding!'_

At first glance, Jaune thought that was just a normal photo he shot after putting Flint into a terrible yard statue, but his blue eyes widened when he saw something else.

' _Sun and Neptune!? When did I take this shot? Must be when they helped me round up all the armed robbers...'_

"True Heroes of Vale…?" Jaune muttered. _'Didn't see this on the front page… Then again, I was mostly screaming my head off for people to read the morning newspaper.'_

Jaune wanted to take photos of him saving the day to get money from his job like he usually did. Not to mention, since Sun and Neptune helped taking down the rest of the fake guards, it only seemed right that he would take a picture of them too.

Not while wearing his superhero costume; Sun already knew that Jaune was a reporter for the Bugle since Blake had said it out loud when they met at the diner. So, it was easy to double back to the school, grab his bag, then find a secluded area near the bank to change in to his civilian appearance.

' _Still, I'm glad they got some recognition from this. Though, I'm sure J.J is trying to make them out to be the real reason everyone is saved rather than Spider-Man getting help from them...'_

"Wow..." Jaune faked his excitement since he already met them before. "…They must have been great help to Spider-Man when taking down those robbers."

Scoffing at Jaune's remark like it was a stupid thing to say, Flash retracted his scroll back, pushed a few more buttons, then showed the scroll to Jaune again.

"You see this, Jaune?" Flash used his other hand to point at Spider-Man trapping Sandman in cement. "That, that right there, Where Spider-Man trapping that Sand freak is what this newspaper should be all about, not these clowns!"

'… _Ok, sensing some hostility there, time to bring this back down to a more civilized conversation.'_

"Didn't know you thought of them like that, Flash. I mean, their just like Spi-"

"Let me cut you off right there, Arc." Jaune's bully interrupted him.

 _'Woah, he used my last name, now I know he means business.'_

"For one thing, these guys are just some pompous, self-centered, glory dogs that should not be considered heroes."

' _Hello, Pot? This is kettle.'_

' _Oh, hey Kettle, what's up?'_

' _Well, I just wanted to say that your black.'_

' _Oh. Well, if we're being honest then I've been screwing your wife.'_

' _What! You son of a- WHOA! WOAH! Ok, that joke when too long in my head. Back to what Flash is saying'._

"…Secondly, Spider-Man is leagues above those clowns. He's brave, selfless, and he doesn't do this just to be famous."

 _'Thank you, Flash, for the kind compliments. Now, if you can stop bullying me on a regular basis then that would also be appreciated.'_

"And third-"

"Third, is why I have two of my students conversing when they should be staying quiet and take notes!" Their teacher said making the two teens to stop their talking and pay attention to the class. "Now, as I was rudely interrupted…."

Getting back on track, Jaune sat next to Harry, his cheeks still red from being called out from the teacher, he pulled out his notebook to get started on taking notes in class.

"Finally, I thought the two of you hated each other, but I guess your common ground is that both of you are fans of Spider-Man." Harry covered his mouth to muffle his snickering. "Then again, I'm sure Flash would forget that he was talking to you and stuff you in your locker later."

"That… will probably happen, yeah." Jaune agreed with his friend and jotted down some words that he was seeing from his teacher's dry erase board. "…But still, Flash may be a diehard Spider-Man fan, but I didn't know he would talk down on Huntsmen that badly."

"You know how people get when someone talks about their idol. With Spider-Man getting so popular he's becoming kown to the other kingdoms, people are starting to get real heated when someone doesn't think positive about Spider-Man." Jaune's friend explained.

"You mean like how people argue about which character in comics or shows are better than the rest?"

"Yes, that's true, but when it involves Spider-Man, then the people are ten times more excited."

"What do you mean?" The blonde asked.

"Before Spider-Man, people mostly relied on the police to deal with crime. Then, there are the Huntsmen, people with awesome abilities called a 'Semblance' to protect the kingdoms and villages from humanities enemies: the Grimm." Harry said to his friend.

"Yeah, I got the run down on that when I got in Vale."

"Well, Huntsman nowadays, mostly the younger generation…" Harry rolled his eyes after he said, 'younger generation'. "…Are making it more like a fad rather than a profession."

"Huh?" Jaune raised an eyebrow.

"Some kids, not all of them, wanted to become Huntsman due to selfish reasons. Some want fame, money, even power to use it for personal gain." Harry explained the dark side of people wanting to be a Huntsman. "Sometimes, people like that get mixed in with the good people who wanted to be Huntsman, it's just really hard to know the which is genuine since people like us can't tell the difference sometimes."

"Yeah, people are selfish sometimes…" Jaune muttered, but unfortunately Harry heard what Jaune said causing the red head to look ashamed for what he said. "…Harry, I know you didn't mean all that."

"I know, Jaune, but I still feel bad for saying that." The heir of the Oscorp Company looked around the class to make sure no one was paying any attention to them. "…I didn't want to insult you since you also tried to be a Huntsmen."

"Don't worry about it." Jaune patted Harry's back as a sign that he's ok. "And besides…"

Images of Ruby invaded his mind including Blake and the rest of her friends from Beacon academy.

"…It's better that there's less people like me attending Beacon and let the real professionals go." Jaune said with a defeated look. Before he realized, Jaune's friend flicked two fingers on his forehead making the blonde reel in surprise. "Ow! What was that for, dude!"

"Did you just say 'ow'?" Harry winced as he cradled the two fingers he used to flick Jaune's head for spacing out. "The one who should be saying 'ow' is me! Seriously, I thought your brain was big, but I didn't know your head is so thick!"

' _Trust me, Harry, a flick from a finger may have stung, but if you tried to knock my head with a fist you would be saying a lot more then **'ow'**.'_

Rubbing the center of his head where hid friend hit him at, Jaune moved his hand at his backpack to feel the fabric of his suit making him feel more at ease.

' _Still, if he did hit me, it would be real awkward to tell him I was just born with tough skin. Maybe I can lie and say I unlocked my aura? Speaking about that…'_

"…Hey, Harry."

"Yeah, Jaune, what's up?" He said while shaking the feeling of pain from his hand.

"About the un-savory parts about people not wanting to be Huntsman and just wanting the power. What happened to those types of people?"

Taking the moment to process what his friend asked, Harry looked at his friend in confusion as to why he asked, but filed it away under Jaune just being curious. After all, the people who knew Jaune's motive as to why he lives in Vale could be counted in one hand, so Harry would indulge Jaune by answering the question.

"Well, people unlock their aura to use for crimes since it's easier and cheaper than buying armor. Though, it depends on how much aura they have." He explained.

"Seriously? It depends how much 'soul' they have that a person can have large amounts of aura?" Jaune asked with a bit of a condescending tone.

"I know it sounds weird, but it's true. Heck, it sounds like some BS writers use in their comics to differentiate other characters, but I don't have the full detail on aura." Harry was about to say more, until the school bell signaling 1st period was over, making the boys packing up their stuff and walking to their next class. As the two teens walked out to the main hallway, Harry started to talk while also facing forward so he wouldn't bump in to someone.

"…Anyway, regarding aura and semblance, people who don't want to be Huntsman usually pays someone to unlock their aura."

"That easily?" Jaune said in surprise.

 _'What is this? A half off on Huntsman?'_

"It's not that easy. The council already knew this would happen, which is why it's illegal to have your aura unlocked if you are a civilian."

"And what happens when they have their aura unlocked if the situations dictate? Like, if they need to survive a crash or a fire?" Jaune furthered his question.

"Then, they'll probably be registered as a danger to other people."

"Registered?" The blonde spider stopped his walking, making Harry to also stop his gait. "…They would go that far?"

"Well, they have to, Jaune. Imagine if everyone decided to unlock their aura, it would be like a disaster! Not to mention what type of semblance people might have, some might be harmless or others could be catastrophic. Which is why, the council must have people who had their aura unlocked to be registered as dangerous." Jaune's friend looked at him sadly, knowing the fact that Harry is also thinking how unfair it is.

"It might be unfair, Jaune… But the kingdom can't take risks with the Grimm literally close to our homes." The young Osborn was going to say more, but the five-minute warning bell signaling the boys to focus on getting to the next class.

' _I never knew that they were that strict with people having their aura unlocked… But I guess that it's for the best if someone would abuse such power. And of course, with great power comes great responsibility. Isn't that right, Uncle Ben?'_

Again, Jaune's head flashed with images of Ruby and her friends who were studying under Beacon academy. Each one making it more unbelievable that girls like them would soon become the next generation to protect the four kingdoms.

' _Still…'_ Jaune looked outside a window close to him that gave a good view of where Ruby was aiming to be a Huntress, including her friends. _'The way Harry made it sound, the students who are at Beacon sound like prisoners in a jail rather than kids learning in a school.'_

* * *

The rest of the day in school soon became blended in to the background as Jaune went through each class. Though his body was there taking notes while listening to the teacher talking, his mind kept drifting back to his other life of being a hero. Due to him having his head in the clouds, Jaune would occasionally get called out by the teacher if he got caught for not paying attention. The young blonde would answer a question given to the teachers showing that he was paying attention, but in all honesty, he just had taken good notes he written down while his mind drifted back to when he was Spider-Man.

After all, the idea of people being registered as a potential danger made Jaune wondering how Ruby could keep such a bright personality, when the council was basically labelling them as weapons.

' _Really? If there considered living weapons, what does that make me?'_ Jotting down some notes from his teacher explaining different compounds, Jaune pushed the notebook aside so he could write down his new version of web fluid.

Though Jaune might be only paying attention when he was called out by the teacher, the young Spider made sure to pay extra attention to chemistry class since it gave him a good base to make his web recipe. Add in the bonus of using the chemistry set the school was providing, not to mention since Jaune was too poor to afford his own set, and you get a free lab to use every day.

Comparing his new version to the old one, Jaune added in a few new chemicals to the jar he was hiding in a drawer, and saw the solution quickly form into a new substance.

The first time he made it - the jar was overflowing with webbing, but this new batch stayed inside of its container with only a few bubbles popping every so often. Hoping that it wasn't a failure, the young teen grabbed one of his pencils, stirred the jar, and tried to pull it out.

Key word: ' _try_ '.

As soon as he was only an inch out of the webbing, the pencil soon started to get harder to pull out of the gunk, leaving Jaune to worry about using this strong substance on someone.

' _Ok! Good news, this is way stringer then the first one I made. Bad news, If I use this one someone there might be a possibility it might rip their skin off.'_

His first thought was to start all over again and get rid of his experiment, until a light bulb lit up above his head giving him another idea.

"This could be used to suspend heavy objects in case my strength won't be enough to hold… Then again, if there is a chance people might be caught in this stuff I could whip up a solution to get it off easier." He muttered while trying to pull out the pencil. "Come on, you darn pencil… I instantly regret using you since you're the only writing tool I have left other than a pen!"

Like pulling a stick out of black tar, Jaune gave one more pull before the pencil snapped in half. Due to how much strength he applied to pulling the lead stick, Jaune's hand flew up straight on to the air making some of the students turn their heads at who raised their hands.

"Yes!" He raised his voice in victory, but his smile soon morphed into horrific realization when most of the class, including the teacher all looked at him.

"Ah, Mr. Arc. Do you know the answer?" The chemistry teacher asked, seeing that no one else raised their hands but the young blonde. "I expect no less from someone like you! Now, please tell everyone in the class, in full detail, how you solve this question."

With his hand still raised, the hero in secret moved his head to get a good look at the question his Chemistry teacher wrote on the board.

' _OK, that's a lot of stuff in just a single board. Don't worry, you wrote down notes on how this works. Just look down and… oh no.'_

With him so focused on getting out the pencil from the super strong substance, Jaune didn't finish writing down the rest of the notes to help him figure out what his teacher wrote down.

"Well, Mr. Arc?" The teacher waved his arm over the classroom. "…We're waiting."

' _Oh man, this reminds me of that nightmare I had... Several times actually! But instead of being dressed as Spider-Man – that, or my underwear, it's actually happening to me in real life!'_

"Well…" The hand that was raised was moved to scratch the back of Jaune's head. "…The answer to the question…"

"Yes, what is the answer to the question, Mr. Arc?" The voice in the teacher sounded impatient.

For once, Jaune couldn't answer a question that the teacher gave him, making him start to feel a little pressured due to so many eyes staring at him.

This was not new to the blonde however, since he experienced this feeling when attending the school at his village of Ansel. Sure, he got over it thanks to having friends, both Harry and Gwen, but it was also due to how prepared to answer any questions given to him. But since he didn't make any good note and was more focused on his side project, Jaune regressed back to his old ways and was about to say he didn't know the answer.

"…I know the answer." Someone said from the back of the classroom.

Now no longer being the center of attention, the class looked at the far end of the room to see a student wearing a grey hoodie that was obscuring most of her face who raised her hand.

"The answer is: Noble gasses can't bond due to them having a full valence shell and cannot accept another electron into the shell." The girl wearing a hoodie said nonchalantly.

"…That is correct." The Chem teacher then turned back to the board and explained why that answer was right, making all the other students to go back to write in their notebooks and finally gettingt Jaune some breathing room.

After the small little spectacle, class remained the same as the other classes before it, with the only difference was the school bell telling the entire school that the day was finally over. As the rest of the students left the chemistry lab, the three friends walked into the crowded hallways and to their lockers to grab the rest of their belongings while talking about how their day went.

"Man…" Gwen Stacy stretched her arms up in the air. "…Today felt super slow."

"You're telling me." Harry told her while unlocking his locker to grab some textbooks. "I swear, I couldn't pay attention to what the teachers are yammering about. Either, due to the lessons being too boring or some of the class always whispering to each other about Spider-Man. It's like he's a celebrity rather than a vigilante."

"You know how it is when people talk about something new." Jaune added in his own comment. "…People love to talk about interesting things. Pretty sure Spider-Man is just a fad that will pass on like any other."

"Hoping it will be sooner…" Jaune's friend grumbled. "…Cause with the way Spider-Man is gaining so many fans, I don't expect him to be a one hit wonder."

Laughing at his friend's joke, the secret hero could only smile with how his life was becoming more and more out of control. He knew that he would eventually start getting in situations that would get out of hand, one of said situations involving Roman still in hiding thanks to the White Fang who was helping said criminal.

Of course, there were other troubles he solved while being the web-slinger. Problems that no civilian could fix alone, but due to so many people living in this kingdom and only one masked hero trying to help, it became even more evident to the blonde that he was biting off more than he could shoot a web.

At first, he thought being Spider-Man was the highlight of his life, but having so many near death experiences in such a short span of time. Being a normal teen and talking to his friends about class felt even more precious to the young hybrid.

The blonde hero knew that trying to live a double life would be hard, but it was still worth the trouble knowing the fact that he could still enjoy small things like these that risking his life was well worth it.

' _Is that how it feels when you're a Huntsmen? Risking your life, so people can enjoy small pleasantries like these?'_

He might sound arrogant, some might say egotistical, but through rumors and speculations from other people around him, he assumed that his way was far harder than a Huntsman.

Sure, Huntsmen are the line of defense that protect people from the Grimm, but could many of them try to balance being a Superhero with powers that seem to be straight out of a comic book? While at the same time trying to balance his life as an awkward teenager that was surviving Highs-school? Though it might sound like Ruby and her team, the comparison ended when one of them wore a mask to fight crime, while the other was open to the idea of Remnant knowing who they were.

"So, what are your plans for today, Jaune?" Gwen asked, snapping the teen hero out of his thoughts and back to his friends who opened the front exit. "You plan on going to the restaurant?"

"…Don't know," The secret hero said before some random student shoved him out if the way. "Hey, excuse you dude!"

"Seriously, what's got you in a rush?" Harry asked with a louder voice so the guy who bumped into his friend would hear him.

The comment was heard by the rude teen causing him to stop his speed walking and turn his head.

"Sorry, dude!" The teen who was in a hurry moved his eyes to look at Gwen. "…And, uh, girl. But I just got a message from a friend that some model is outside and I want to go get a picture with her."

After he said his piece the student went back to speeding to whatever destination the so-called model was and leaving the three friends to ponder what to do with the information.

' _Well, I got a few moments to spare, so why not.'_

"…You guys want to go check this out?" Jaune asked Harry and Gwen. "I mean, we're all going the same way and who doesn't want to see a model once in their life?"

"I'm game. It might also be some good pictures you can send to the Bugle too." Harry agreed to Jaune's suggestion.

"Ah! She might also be a teen actress from one of my favorite TV shows!" Gwen's eyes sparkled at the idea. "We _so_ got a get a picture. Jaune, get your camera ready!"

"Ok, let me just grab it from m- BAG!" Not even letting Jaune get ready, Gwen grabbed both boy's arms and ran to meet the celebrity with Jaune and Harry in tow.

* * *

Mid-Town High School was your very typical education center for teens whom were learning to get ready to be adults. From your typical jocks, nerds, bullies, emos, goths, wallflowers, gamers, brony, etc. the roster for each teen going through a different phase was somewhat endless, but even when in a phase teen attention span could still quickly diminish.

Which was why whenever something different or new showed up, students from Mid-Town High would flock to any shred of excitement and use that to talk to other people to try and make their day sounded more exciting.

So, when a news about some teen model arriving at school today, it caused many to try and catch a glimpse at who this person was that decided to drop in on their daily lives.

"So, who do you think this person of interest is?" Harry asked. "I may be known for being the son of the richest man in Vale, but even I don't keep track of famous people."

"I just hope she's a teen mom who's trying her best to still be relevant!" The part time camp counsellor spoke enthusiastically. "…Make sure you get my good side, Jaune."

"Don't worry, I'm sure J.J will love to get something from me that doesn't involve his favorite hero." The blonde chuckled while making sure he had some film in his camera.

Testing to make sure his camera was in working order, the spider Faunus looked through his lens and zoomed in who they were going to see.

Suffice for it to say, the talk of some model showing up on school grounds might hold some weight after all.

There were many beautiful girls in Mid-town, each having their own quirks and attractions, but all of them pale in comparison with the girl who was leaning on a tree a few yards away from them.

Slender body that was the shape of an hourglass, no sign of fat, skin pale as if her body never experienced the sun's warm kiss, and matching her complextion were a white, sleeveless, high necked, crop undershirt and white shorts with a zipper on the front of each leg while wearing heels really made her look like a super model.

'… _Too bad there is only one girl I know that wears a black bow on her head.'_

Letting out a whistle, Harry only caught a glimpse of who this mystery girl was, when Jaune handed him his camera after taking a single shot.

"…I got to say, they were not wrong when a girl like this could be famous." Passing the camera to their third member, the young millionaire nudged his shoulder to his stiff friend who hadn't moved from his spot. "Speechless, Jaune? I know your more awkward around girls than me, but we haven't even talked to her yet."

"Hey, wait a minute..." Squinting her eyes to take a closer look, Gwen passed the camera back to Jaune who only lifted his hand to grab, but still stared at the girl who was the epicenter of attention. "She's not a trash, teen, pregnant, or a mom! She's just that emo chick!"

Both boys looked confused at Gwen's statement, but went back to looking at the girl who hasn't spoken a single word with some of their fellow classmates. Deciding not to speak on the matter, Jaune used his camera to zoom in on Blake (much to his surprise upon recognition) while Harry gets caught up on how Gwen knows her.

Zooming in to take another photo, Jaune was about to take the shot when suddenly, his sapphire eyes met amber causing Blake to finally move and head straight towards him.

' _Oh, come on! Did she hear my camera's shutter sound from that far away? Those ears of hers must be really good at picking up sound.'_

"So, you met her when she was at the diner?" Harry asked Gwen, the two completely ignoring the fact of, who they were talking about, was walking towards them.

"Yeah, she came in the diner followed by this guy who looked like he's from Finch and Abercrombie."

"You mean she has a boyfriend?"

"She doesn't have a boyfriend." Jaune interrupted their conversation.

"How did you know?" Jaune's rich friend raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Do I hear some jealously?"

"No, because she literally said it out loud." He told Harry with the same bluntness and dispassionate tone he heard when Blake said it right to Sun's face. "…She said it out loud, to his face, in a public diner. If that doesn't spell it out to the guy, I'm not sure even a slap to the face will get Sun to understand."

"That's a little bit to descriptive, Jaune." Said Gwen who looked over her blonde friend's shoulder to see the black-haired Faunus now in front of the small group.

Not even caring that people were watching her talk to them, Blake shifted her eyes to the blonde teens' friends and was thinking in her head the option of speaking with the others so close.

' _Are you weighing your options now to talk to me? You just made a huge scene acting like some bad ass chick you see in cartoons and comics and now your being nervous?!'_

"Jaune, I ne-"

"No!" Before Blake could tell him her request, the young spider quickly denied whatever she was going to ask him.

"Wha- You don't even know what I was going to say!" Dropping the calm, quiet act, Blake gave Jaune a glare for rudely interrupting her.

' _I know what you're going to say and it makes me sick!'_ Jaune's mind was already giving off what other people will be talking about tomorrow with how a girl like her is talking to one of the most socially awkward teen in school. _'I already made myself a target for Flash, but other than that I blended into the background easily. Thanks to you I now have to endure gossip about me for god knows how long!'_

Feeling the student populace's looks at this development between this beautiful girl talking and the lanky teen, he was about to try and pretend he never met her by simply walking away.

That was until he felt two hands grab his back.

"Sorry for our friend." Harry Osborn apologized. "…He's not that sociable, or great talking to girls. Right, Jaune?"

"Ugh…!" Jaune face grimaced with pain when Harry twisted his back.

"Yeah, if you want to talk to him we can all go to the local diner and talk there! Convenient, right, Jaune?" Gwen gave an innocent smile, but made sure her intent was clear when she twisted even harder on to Jaune's back.

"Y-yeah..." The blonde Faunus said between grunts of discomfort. "…That sounds like a great idea."

Seeing as her intended objective has been accomplished, Blake gave a nod of thanks before turning away from the group.

"…I know where it is, so you don't have to lead me." Turning her head so her eyes locked to Jaune's one more time, she nodded her head as a hint as to why she came here in the first place. "Thank you for accepting, Jaune. I really need to ask some questions and you're the best one to help me answer them."

' _Oh, don't worry, Blake. I'm going to help you.'_

Harry and Gwen grabbed Jaune – who was still a bit reluctant, by his arms, so he wouldn't chicken out and proceeded to drag him to where his second job takes place – all the while passing students who were either laughing at the display or recording the spectacle on their scrolls.

'… _Whether I like it or not.'_

* * *

 **There you go people! What, you thought Ruby will talk with Jaune? NO! It's time for Blake to step up and get some answers straight from the spider's mouth! This chapter and the next will mostly consist of just Jaune talking to one of the girls in team RWBY, so don't expect too much from this development. This is also leading up to where Blake will further carry the story with the whole 'her going to a secret meeting that shows Roman trying to recruit more followers.'**

 **I also wanted to add my own reason as to what happens if regular people unlocked their aura. People get around to have their aura unlocked, one way or the other people who don't want to be Huntsman tend to just want the benefit for personal gain. Which is why there must be plans for what happens when situations like this occurs, leaving me with the idea of the registration act.**

 **Not like the one in civil war that involves super heroes, it just makes the people who do have aura to be known in the kingdom, so people will know and will report whoever tries to abuse their newfound power. I mean, yes, the characters in RWBY tend to wreck stuff in Vale and showing no signs of repercussions, but I think that since they are part of Beacon, the school will have to pay for damages.**

 **I mean, would you try to stop some rampaging teen with issues, or just take the money the school gives you?**

 **I'm sure most of you will see flaws, but pleas comment on why, so I can make the story even better!**

 **Like, Fav, and follow this story! As well as my two awesome Beta-Readers: CrazyCriticer46 and ahsoei and check out their stories too!**

 **I also plan on making different Omake's called: Odd Jobs Arc, here is one of the few I'll make, so please enjoy!**

 **These Omakes aren't really part of the main storyline, I just thought it would be fun for Jaune to be in crazy situations!**

* * *

 **Odd Jobs Arc: The Pizza**

"I **told** you- I didn't order the Pizza!" The man shouted while looking through his door's peep-hole.

"Look, pal… **I'm not paying for this pie** , understand?!" Jaune Arc, A.K.A Spider-Man said who was still ringing the doorbell so the customer would open the door an d pay him.

At first, he thought helping his boss's side business as a pizza delivery boy would be easier then cleaning tables and washing dishes, but thinking back on it, he would rather stay indoors than deal with rude people like this guy.

"I'm not exactly in **great financial health** right now, y'know what I'm saying?"

Not even giving the customer the time to respond, Jaune kept pushing the doorbell with no sign of stopping.

"So, you better **pay up** or I'm just gonna keep pushing this bu-"

 _'Wait, Spider sense is going off, but why? I'm just delivering pizza!'_

Before he had time to respond to his Spider sense, the man opened his door and glared at him.

"Oh for-" No longer having the patience, the man continued to scream. " **Fine** , I'll take the dang **Pie**! **But I did not order** -"

"…I know you didn't."

Both stopped their arguing after hearing the third voice from behind the man of the house, making them look at whom else was in the house.

What Jaune expected to see some family member or distant relative was instead a something he thought would never see.

Standing right behind them was a man completely covered in a red and black costume that almost resembled his own spider suit. It might sound as less threatening as when Jaune wore his Spider-Man costume, but the difference between them is very large.

One of the major differences was the fact that the black and red trespasser wielded a gun pointing straight at them.

"Pineapple and black olives, right?" The gun-toting maniac asked like it was normal to hold a gun at someone's head.

"Y-yeah…" Jaune said, more confused than scared since it wasn't the first time he had a gun pointed to him. Then again, it was when he was Spider-Man and not a pizza delivery guy.

"Did they burn the crust?"

"No!" The young teen pushed the pizza box forward to show him that he was telling the truth. _'Man, I hope they didn't.'_

"I specifically told them to **burn**... **the damn**... **crust**." Taking out a second gun from its holster, the masked gunmen pointed the second firearm at Jaune. "…Get in."

 _'He means business, I have to do what he says, or else he might use the other guy as a hostage.'_

Slowly walking inside _,_ the scared citizen and the blonde hero were now at the mercy of the masked hitman. What Jaune expected was that this guy was here to rob or kidnap his customer and that he was here at the wrong time, but what he didn't expect was the guy to walk casually to him and grabbed a slice of pizza.

Taking a few bites of the pizza, the gunman mumbled as he continued to chew.

"Mm- **Yeah**. But it would be so much better if they would-" He let out a burp then shouted. "… **Don't argue with me!** "

"Is he talking to us?" Jaune whispered next to the other guy.

"Hey, uh… sir?" The older man tried to get the attention of the crook who was still eating. "Excuse me, but- What are you doing? **In my house?** "

"Oh!" Finally remembering why, he was here the hitman dropped the pizza and spoke. "I'm here to perform a **killing contract!** "

"That's- That's cold, man!" Jaune instinct was right that the man who owned the house was in danger, leaving him the only choice as to be the bait so the other hostage could escape. "You snuck into this **man's house** , ordered a **pizza** \- **Ate the pizza** , and now you're gonna kill him!? **Holy-"**

Both pistols were now pointed right at is head, letting know Jaune's plan as bait was going right as planned.

"I'm not here to kill him. I'm here to kill you, **Jeremy**."

After the sudden revelation, the only thing the blonde spider could do with this turn of events was to speak what his mind was thinking.

 **"WHO!?"**


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: Brotherhoof12 doesn't own Spiderman or RWBY. They all belongs to their respective creators. Please enjoy this chapter.**

* * *

 **(Chapter 18: Caught)**

* * *

In life, preferably the life of a teenage boy in high school, it always seemed like a faint dream to get a beautiful girl to ask you to hang out with her. Even more rare when said girl is a Huntress-in-Training capable of killing large monsters with a team of other girls using impossible weapons.

Many boys would have fought each other for a chance to get an opportunity to try and woo girls like them, and an even higher chance if some boys liked quiet, mysterious beauties that are all rolled into one.

"Soooo…" Jaune Arc, social reject by day and hero by night, played with his utensils as he tried to find a good question to start the conversation that was going horribly wrong. "You… read books often?"

Blake was mid page flip before she stopped and looked at the blonde across their table as she raised an eyebrow at him.

"Me too!" He gave her a fake smile. "What… um… what book are you reading now...?"

"..."

Staring at him for just a few more seconds, Blake set her eyes back on the book, leaving Jaune to sit uncomfortably as he tried to find other ways to fill the silence.

"Yeah..." Jaune took the glass of water he had in front of him and took a sip due to how dry the conversation was. "That's my favorite book, too."

At first glance, people who don't know these two would assume that they are a young couple trying to know each other, but for Blake and Jaune, these two have only known each other just enough that if someone would've come up to them and say that they look 'cute' being all nervous with each other, the two teens would immediately deny that claim.

' _Still, it is kind of my fault that she's like this. After all-'_ The secret hero's thoughts were interrupted.

"Psst! Jaune! Tell her that her hair is pretty or that what she's wearing is really cute." Gwen whispered to him, hoping her quiet tone won't be heard. "And maybe a little bit slutty, but don't tell her that!"

From the corner of his eye, Jaune saw Blake's bow twitch and her hands grip the ends of her book a little tighter.

' _We have an audience before us.'_ The secret cat Faunus thought irritatedly.

Moving his head away from the bookworm, the blonde teen looked at his two friends, Gwen Stacy and Harry Osborn as they stayed quiet and watching them as if it was a life action TV.

"So!" The secret hero tapped his fingers on the table in an unrecognizable tune. "You have a great hair! How do you keep it so straight? My sisters would kill to know what brand of shampoo and conditioner you use!"

 **(Flip)**

Her only answer was to just flip another page.

Giving Gwen a glare for making him ask a question like that to a girl who could kill him in a hundred different ways, his only female friend from school just shrugged her shoulders and drank from her cup as if she wasn't wrong.

His friends had hoped that they could know more of Jaune's friend from Beacon, but for the past ten minutes, they only got a few grunts and short replies from her, leaving them no choice but to try and salvage this wreck.

' _Still, glad they stuck around, they could have left me with an excuse to leave me with Blake, but they're still here. What good friends!'_ Jaune smiled secretly.

"AH!" Harry pushed his drink by 'accident' onto the floor and creating a small puddle of soda. "Oh no!"

"Looks like we don't have napkins to wipe it down." Gwen looked at the table. "I'll go in the back and get some."

"Weren't you fired? I'm pretty sure they would just tell you to get out of the kitchen." Jaune looked at her suspiciously. "Not to mention, I see some napkins from the table next to us. Actually, _every_ table around here has napkins except for this one for some reason."

"I'll go get some napkins." Completely denying what her friend has said, Gwen pushed her chair away from the table and walked away.

"I'll go help you." Harry stood up.

"You stay here." Jaune, using his super reflexes and strength, grabbed Harry's shoulder and forced him down.

"I'll just sit down, then." The wealthy teen automatically said while trying to pry his friend's iron grip from his shoulder.

' _You caused this, so you suffer through it too.'_ Jaune thought.

Now, without Gwen to try and give Jaune questions to ask their fourth guest, the table soon became heavy with awkward silence.

' _It's ok, Gwen said she's going to get napkins and come back. I mean, how long does it take to get napkins from such a small restaurant?'_ The blonde positively thought.

* * *

 **(15 minutes later)**

* * *

' _Where the heck are the napkins!?'_

Looking at his scroll to make sure he was right, not only did Gwen lie to him that she was going to get some napkins, the gang did not know it would take _fifteen_ minutes to just get simple _napkins_.

Putting away his device, the nervous blonde looked at his remaining friend for any plans that could help him alleviate the constant stream of him unable to form words.

"Why are you looking at me?" The young billionaire shrugged his shoulders. "I got nothing. I mean, just look."

Now giving up any hopes for development between his friend and the new girl he just met, Harry pointed a finger at Blake who was still in the same spot still reading her book.

Lifting her eyes to see Jaune's friend pointing at her, the silent reader just rolled her eyes and kept staying silent leaving both boys to wallow with how uncomfortable the situation is.

"I thought you knew her, Jaune." Harry muttered.

"I _do_ know her." Jaune answered in a harsh whisper.

' _Just not well enough, I suppose.'_ He added in his mind.

"Well, say something! I thought this would be interesting to know what's between you two…"

"I told you guys that we know each other through a friend."

"Instead, I see just two anti-social teens!" Rubbing his face due to frustration, Harry was about to say more when his eyes widened and spoke. "Finally! Gwen's here with the napkins."

Taking this as a good thing, Jaune turned his head and was about to ask her why it took so long, but found no one in sight.

The young hero turned to face his friend again, only to see the chair that was supposed to house him empty and a little bit moved.

 _'How the he-'_ The blonde hero quickly looked outside the window and saw both Harry and Gwen smiling and waving their hands to signal their departure.

' _They freakin' diched me!'_ Jaune incredulously stared at them.

He was about to storm out of the diner to make them return here, only to stop when Blake closed her book and placed it on the table.

"Now, can we talk?" She spoke with a hint of annoyance. "Or are you going to try and keep us here a little longer and make me give up?"

"Oh." Jaune's cheeks flared red. "You knew all along?"

"Pretty sure when you said 'No' I figured you would try to do something like this." She explained.

' _Busted.'_ The blonde looked embarrassed.

"Now," Taking the initiative in the conversation, Blake placed her scroll on the table and pushed it to her only audience. "With no one trying to distract us, we can get down to why I need your help."

Seeing that her scroll is in front of him, Jaune saw this as a sign to look at what she was showing him. Bringing the device closer to him, the young hero saw a picture with what appears to be a mob wreaking havoc on the streets.

' _She wanted to show me this? I see this all the time whenever I'm Spider-Man, usually when it involves a parade or a sports game…. maybe a sale on Black Friday.'_ Jaune furrowed his brows when he spotted something unusual in the picture.

At first glance, the teen would have just asked her why she shown this to him, only for him to remain silent and finally saw the reason the riot was caused in the first place.

' _Spiders, there so many of them.'_

The spider Jaune was thinking about was not the creature itself, it was his symbol being worn by tons people that gave him a clear indication as to why Blake was making him see the picture.

Soon, memories of when he escaped from the soldiers from Atlas and Mr. Osborn's guards flooded his mind. Not only that, he also remembered so many people trying to catch a glimpse of him too.

' _The people wearing the spider shirts, are they the reason they started the fight? Or was it the people not wearing my symbol?'_ He began to think.

It was bound to happen, when too many people congregate to a location where a person with massive influence is currently staying conflict soon follows. He just never expected that his popularity got so far as to people fighting for him if someone talks bad about his heroics.

"By your expression I can see that I have your attention." Cutting of his inner thoughts, the Faunus in hiding pulled back her scroll and stuffed it in her pocket.

"Why are you showing me this?" He asked, trying to hide his suspicions as to how she got a photo with how close it was to the fighting. Normally, photographers try to get a safe distance to things such as this, but with how close it was Jaune might assume she knows someone that was part of the fighting. "If you're trying to help me with pictures, I think I'll have to decline."

"It's not just that," She shook her head to deny what Jaune said to her. "It may look like a fight gone bad, but it's more than that."

Scanning her surroundings to check if someone might be listening in, Blake spoke in a much quieter tone while also lifting her hands to her lips in case someone walks by.

"I know you're close to Spider-Man and that he's getting real popular in Vale, but he has to be even more careful with so many eyes trying to find him." She whispered.

"You mean Roman and the White Fang? He already knows to watch his back, you don't have to worry." Jaune tried to assure.

' _Not to mention the bonus of sensing danger nearby.'_ He added.

Shaking her head even more aggressively, the young Huntress let out a huff before talking in a quiet voice again.

"Not just that, you both need to realize that most of the people in Vale don't just think of him as a celebrity. They think of Spider-Man as an actual hero, someone that jumped out of a comic book, if people are willing to fight for him then you need to tell him that he needs to be more careful."

When hearing what Blake say about his hero persona, Jaune had to take a moment to digest what she was implying.

' _Even now, my actions of what I'm doing as Spider-Man is causing unrest. But, this is all I know, I can't give up on this, not when I know that I have to fix my mistakes when I first donned the mask.'_ Jaune thought.

"You're saying that what he's doing is too much of a good thing?" He asked.

"What I'm saying is, is that he's spreading too much attention to himself, you're not helping with the situation either." Blake told him.

Jaune gave the huntress a confused look, making the girl to go into detail on how he was also the problem.

"Since you keep taking pictures of Spider-Man, people will connect the dots on both of you, you were lucky that I found out, but what if someone with a darker agenda finds out?" She probed.

' _Aunt May!'_ He widened his eyes.

"Your face already tells me you have some people I important to you that might get caught up in all this, so I'm glad your not ignorant about how dangerous this is." Blake gave a contempt nod at the boy.

"This riot was caused when people found out Spider-Man was at the docks where he stopped Roman from stealing Dust." Swiping some more pictures on her scroll, Blake showed him a photo of Tuskon. "He also saved one of my friends who was trying to get away from the White Fang, not just him either more than half of the Faunus that was at the docks defected that also want to get out of the group."

"Let me guess, the White Fang also doesn't like that?" Jaune said in a flat tone, finally seeing where this story was going.

"The White Fang absolutely _hates_ humans," She said bitterly. "But they hate traitors even more and when Spider-Man talked most of them to not join, it also made the Faunus who live in Vale believe that Spider-Man is the only one they should listen."

What Blake told him made Jaune think once again how much gravity he holds when he was Spider-Man, he could fathom how the Faunus in Vale are now making him out to be their leader. After all, he just wanted this kingdom to be a safe place where no one gets hurt and as Spider-Man the Faunus can now breathe a little easier knowing they aren't being harassed now that they have someone watching over them.

Taking his silence as a sign for her to keep talking, Blake typed in some letters in her scroll then showed the blonde teen a website that held pictures of him as well as a flood of comments.

"I'm not sure both of you check what people say about this on the internet, there's a lot of people who say things that are close to hero worship. Celebrities have things like this all the time with fans, Spider-Man is different because how he acts are inspiring so much positive feedback from both Faunus and Humans."

"And the White Fang doesn't like that?"

"No, the White Fang's primary goal is to show that the Faunus is the superior race and are willing to cause fear so people will listen to them. Now, that Spider-Man has appeared it became harder for the White Fang to recruit more followers making Spider-Man hated within the community of the Faunus."

"Hated? you said he was idolized by most of the Faunus in Vale."

' _Lady, you make the whole mysterious, calm, and cool shtick down to a T, but you suck at explaining stuff.'_ He criticized the girl in the back of his mind.

"In _Vale_ , but not in the _other_ kingdoms. The Fang is too deeply rooted with hate for what the humans, even more so with Atlas, in Vale though Spider-Man became more than just a Faunus wearing a mask. He became a symbol, a symbol for Faunus to take responsibility in their life and not be ruled by years of racial bigotry."

That last sentence sounded both happy and jealous, something he never thought a girl like Blake would show to anyone. Not wanting to call that out, he just let his mind file all the information he received then snapped back to attention when Blake started to talk again.

"The Fang still hasn't given up on setting themselves In Vale, my friend, Tuskon gave me a date on when the next recruitment will take place." Taking a napkin from the other table, Jaune gave her a pen he had in his bag and waited for her to finish whatever she was scribbling down.

"This is the address to the location that will happen at the end of the week, I need you both to meet me there." Blake gave him the napkin and the pen back.

Seeing the address was a street he frequently visited down town at night, the young hero was going to say his thanks when he stopped after hearing her request.

"You want me," He pointed a finger to his face. "To tag along to a FAUNUS. ONLY. HIDEOUT?"

This time, it was her who make a confused look at what she was hearing.

"Of course, I know you're not a Faunus." How easily she said that made Jaune's face go blank. "It would be better if we all go in a group since the White Fang has been desperate for more members, while the both of us enter it would leave Spider-Man the opportunity to sneak inside.

It was a good plan to follow, the White Fang wants more members and would not complain if more want to join, but the problem Jaune's facing was something he couldn't tell Blake.

' _I'm human, so does that mean Blake wants me to pretend I'm a Faunus? I could pull off being a Faunus, at least, that's what I think I can do.'_ The blonde thought.

True to what he's thinking, Jaune was born from his human parents with no animalistic traits that could pass on to be the same as Blake or any other Faunus. At the same time, he couldn't say he wasn't a Faunus either, not when he has all the characteristics of one, he could even say that he was more spider then any arachnid Faunus. If push comes to shove then he might have to tell Blake a lie that he is a Faunus, but not a spider one since she was smart enough that he was related to Spider-Man from the Bugle. If she sees Jaune perform spider Faunus traits then it won't be long for her to finally connect the dots that he was Spider-Man and not just a friend to him.

"I'm not sure about this." He said with uncertainty.

"It's understandable that you don't want to be anywhere near them, but you don't have to worry about being a major part in it. We just need to look like we belong there and you can leave the rest to me and Spider-Man. You could also take picture as proof of what Roman is doing."

"And how exactly are you so sure this plan will work?" Jaune spoke in an aggravated tone. However, after he said that, he quickly realized the mistake of showing his emotions and took a few seconds to catch himself.

"I'm sorry, I just feel a bit nervous that this won't be such a good plan. I mean, won't they make sure that the people their trying to recruit are actually Faunus?"

"I know that you don't trust me on this plan." Blake told him with to hints of secrecy.

' _I don't trust you as far as I can throw you. And I can throw pretty far, too.'_

"That's why I asked my friend to pull a few strings. He knows some people who are still part of the Fang, there also worried about what would happen if they quit, so there still in the group. One of his friends also happens to be in Vale as a security guard for a recruitment drive." Her explanation of what's about to happen caused Jaune to finally see what she is getting at, making him finish the rest of her sentence.

"Leaving us able to just cruse on through with no one to question us. Like a bouncer letting in people who are on the list." He gave an example from the top of his head.

' _That or letting the hot chicks skip the line to enter. Huh, I wonder If I can skip the line if I wear my Spider suit?'_

"That leaves the guards to not question us, but what about people who decide to ask us what we are?" He continued.

"Don't worry, I won't make you wear fake ears or a tail, not all Faunus have distinctive traits. If they want, some Faunus can hide what they are."

' _Oh, yeah, I know that since I'm hiding what type of Faunus I am. There I go again, thinking I'm a Faunus, but I am, or am I? Darn, this type of identity crisis seems so easy to understand for heroes in the comics.'_

"That's why we can just say that you're a Faunus that has claws or fangs, nothing too distinguishable, but what matters is that we enter and find out what Roman has been doing and why he's been laying low for so long."

For once, Jaune no longer had doubts that this plan wasn't a total flop after all. The usual shake down he does whenever he stops the White Fang or Roman's men from stealing dust hasn't given him any solid locations, so with the help of Blake, he might finally get a chance to catch down Roman.

That is, until a thought passed through his head when he realized something was wrong with the picture he was now seeing.

"Where's Ruby?" His sudden question made Blake's eyes go wide then looked away now that he finally caught on to why only she was here.

The problem he was seeing now was the three other young Huntresses that are supposed to be here planning this out as well were nowhere to be seen. It was odd that she decided to drop in without notice, even more odd that she was telling him all of this when her team should be here too.

"Blake, please tell me they're just late and they'll be here shortly."

"..." Once again, Blake's silent approach confirmed what Jaune dreaded from the moment his friends did the same thing to him just as Blake is doing now.

' _She ditched them. Why is she telling me? The guy she barely knows, and not to her friends? Speaking about friends...'_

"They still think you're at School? I'm pretty sure by now they're starting to figure out you're not there, so please tell me why you're deciding to go against their back for this."

Jaune didn't want Blake to do this again, she did it the first time when she ran away to stop Roman at the docks. Ruby even called him to say that Blake will try to be more honest with the team, since he was also a great help at telling her where her black-haired teammate went.

Now, once again, Blake has decided to keep playing solo and is trying once more to infiltrate a terrorist hide out with no back up what-so-ever. Technically, she won't be alone since she's deciding to ask the same person to come with her as a follower and as the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

"Blake, please tell me in the next five seconds Ruby and the rest of your team will walk in."

Where his finger was pointing at, three old ladies walked in through the front door. Taking his eyes away from the senior citizens, Jaune's hand laid back on the table and asked Blake a question in a serious voice.

"Please tell me Ruby and the rest of your team decided to take a detour to a costume store to dress up as old ladies before arriving here."

Confused in thought after hearing Juane say that, Blake sighed then looked back at Jaune with the same guilty look she had just a couple of seconds ago.

"I didn't tell them, because I don't want them to be hurt." With how her eyes seem to stare right at him with no sign of looking away, one might assume she was telling the truth.

' _She's totally bluffing and I didn't even need my spider sense to tell me that either. Still, I don't want to lie to Ruby if she decides to ask me what Blake's plans are, but I also know that Blake is too stubborn to walk out of this now.'_

"it's never easy." He muttered to himself.

"I'm sorry?" Blake asked since her ears were twitching to indicate she heard him whisper something.

"I said this is dumb and you not bringing backup is not going to be easy." He pounded his fist on the table, making sure he didn't apply any strength that would shatter the table into dust. "I know you're smart to make this plan and all, but I seriously doubt bringing one nerd of a guy like me is not one of them. Seriously, why not bring your friends? I'm sure they would love to help you."

' _Especially Ruby's older sister, I feel like if she had the chance to know where Roman might be she would just screw the plan and smash anything that was in her way. Hmm, I feel like that happened before at some bar I tried to get a job at… oh well, can't remember.'_

"I can't risk their lives over my stupid mistakes," She balled up her fist in anger. "I thought my past would stay behind me, but I just kept lying to myself that it was never going to come back."

' _You're 17, right? Why do you sound like those adults I see in the movies with dark and shady pasts? Shouldn't your mistake be picking a wrong clique or having a bad taste in boys?'_

"For once, the people I call friends are the people I can trust the most, so I can't let them join if there is a chance they'll get hurt."

' _If they're your friends, then what does that mean for me?'_

"It's also because I need some experienced fighters, someone who can end it quickly. I don't know what type of fighting style Spider-Man uses, it's unconventional and at first glance it might look like an amateur can do it."

' _I don't know which is worse. That she thinks her friends can't do it or that she's complementing me on how skilled I am and at the same time critiquing me on how I fight.'_

"But once again, I was surprised at how fluid and strong when he fought the Fang. Even more so with how he knew who was attacking him when he wasn't paying attention." She stopped her drabble when Jaune continued to stare at her as she talked. "I'm sorry, with how I'm talking about him I might seem like I'm a fan just like Ruby. I'm not, by the way."

' _Could have fooled me.'_ He resist the urge to roll his eyes.

"I feel that, no, I know that if I go with the help of Spider-Man I can do more than just fight. Spider-Man talked out most of them at the docks, something I failed to do, which is why I want to try that sane approach one more time." She said hopefully.

"And if it doesn't work?" Jaune asked.

"I have faith that he can reach out to them." This time, she sounded truthful.

' _You put way too much faith in him. Me… whatever.'_

"So," Jaune rapped his knuckles on the hard wood table. "You plan to just take me, a normal civilian photographer as your temporary partner and a masked vigilante, to a terrorist infested hideout without your team members who are trained to fight monsters?"

"Jaune." Reaching for her glass of water, Blake took a few sips before she placed it back down. "You make is sound like I haven't made a plan at all."

' _You. DIDN'T! It just sounds like you're just hoping for the best and just let Spider-Man-no, ME! Do most of the work!'_

"I like to state that this is a bad idea and I will call Ruby to let her know."

"If you do that, then you won't join me." She gave a frustrated growl at how Jaune wants to back out.

"You already gave me the address." To prove his point, he even placed it on the table to show the location Blake written down.

Staring at her handiwork, Jaune had to mentally slap his head at his idiocy when he saw Blake snatch the parchment from the table and ripped it into tiny pieces.

' _Should've seen that one coming.'_

"Any other bright ideas on how to tell them?" She gave Jaune a look that invited him to take on that challenge.

' _Well, I walked into that one. Looks like I should stick to her suicide mission until I find another way to get her friend's help. As much as I want to do this alone, I know that help is always a good option, especially when it's friends who can wield crazy OP weapons.'_

The options given was not an easy one for him, in one hand he can stick to her plan and go with her to find out what Roman has been doing and catch him, but the downside would be to try to get the chance to sneak away from her and find a place not heavily guarded so he can change into Spider-Man. With the second option he can just not go with the plan and tell her friends what Blake's been doing without their knowing, yet that will also lead to how much trouble Blake will cause if her cover has been blown and he wasn't there to help her.

' _I'm stumped. The options given to me are bad, no matter how much I think of different ways, it all leads to something either causing a big explosion or a massive shoot out. Huh, usually when I do this, there's less of that, but when I'm helping them I feel like my life's being cut in half.'_

Suddenly, his brain clicked, like placing a piece of a puzzle that at first glance might not fit, Jaune found a solution that could benefit him in the long run.

"No." Was all he said.

"No? What do you mean?" She asked, not expecting for him to say that.

"I mean, I'm not going."

Her eyes narrowing, Blake was about to say something when Jaune stopped her by lifting his hand up.

"I'm not going to tell them either."

With her eyes still showing paranoia, Blake continued to stare.

"If I tell them about this, I'm sure you'll find a different time to start your little reconnaissance, maybe decide on a different day too. Which is why I got a different idea on how to approach this."

"I don't think you understand the weight of this." Blake's voice became harsh. "Roman is manipulating innocent lives, young and old, for whatever sick plan he has in store for Vale. I can't just change my plan this quickly with how short the deadline is."

It may sound arrogant, but Blake has known the White Fang and was trained to be a Huntress, to be able to fight Grimm that are leagues more difficult than any trained soldier can handle. To hear that a boy like him, a civilian, say that he has a better idea is laughable. She knows that it might be a bit too harsh, but Blake knows that if she needs Spider-Man's help, then she has needs Jaune's cooperation to help complete her agenda.

"Fine." She seethed, crossing her arms to make it known that she wasn't happy. "What do you have in mind."

"If I stay behind, then you know Ruby will find out. Just like how she found out where to find you at the docks."

"Wait, she didn't tell me that." Suddenly, the longer she spoked her tone of voice became icier. "So, you're the one that told her where I was."

' _Darn, sorry for throwing you under the bus, Ruby. Or did I throw myself under the bus?'_

"Ok, let's just forget that part and get back on track." Jaune waved his last remark off and continued to talk. "Since I'll stay behind, Ruby will come to find me and ask me questions."

"You know that if you hold any information about where I am, then Yang will be the one to push questions rather than her sister."

Images of Ruby using her puppy dog eyes against Jaune were replaced with her older sister, Yang. Eyes of silver now changed to blood red was all that Jaune could see, add the blonde bombshell's hair that can be doused in flame giving her more of a demonic look almost made Jaune wonder if the plan he's making isn't as safe as he thought it would be.

"True," He body shivered when he remembered the stories Ruby told him about what Yang does when she gets angry. "And for that fact I'll tell them where you are. That is, If I can remember what location you'll be when the rally begins. I don't have it since you tore it up, so I'll have to tell them to the best of my knowledge and even then, I'm not sure what I gave them is correct."

"So you plan to give them false information? You know my point still stands that Yang will have you in a vice if you lie to them."

Instinctively, Jaune crossed his legs under the table to protect his third organic web shooter.

"I'm not afraid. Besides, she wouldn't harm a civilian since she's under law as a Huntress. The whole registered thing is still warranted for those with aura, after all."

"So, you know about the registration of people who has unlocked aura. Of course you do you're friends with Spider-Man, so of course you knew about it."

' _I learned most of it today from my friend, but I really don't have to tell her that much anyway.'_

Though he does intend to lead Ruby and her team away from Blake, he also needs to make sure that he has enough time to move from point A to point B.

"I'll be more of a liability to you, which is why it's better for me to run interference rather than play spy. Maybe you can have someone else join you, like Sun!"

"No." She instantly shot down the idea faster than Ruby firing her Crescent rose at a nevermore.

"Ok, totally understandable. But I'm positive the help you'll need is Spider-Man, he's been following leads on Roman for some time, so I'm sure both of you can compare on what both of you found."

Silence was her only answer, leaving the young spider to ponder if he got her hooked onto the idea or not. Even if he somehow entered the rally and changed into his hero costume without detection, Blake would still put the pieces together and expose him for being one and the same person.

That's also considering if he did give Ruby a false lead on where her friend could be, the wall crawler still had to make sure to arrive at the destination on time. There is to many variables on how his plan might fail, one of those major flaws was how he was supposed to be in two places at once.

Add in the fact that Jaune is trying to talk to a girl who was once part of a large terrorist organization and a Huntress-in-training made him wonder if his poker face can make her believe his reasons.

' _Blake probably knows when people are either lying or hiding something, I can't match her in keeping secrets. I'm already having trouble trying to keep one, so there's no way I can keep lying to people.'_

"Look, I'm gonna be real here." Finally giving up on trying to conceal his intentions, Jaune stared into Blakes eyes to show he was no longer hiding anything to her. "I'm honestly scared of the plan you made. I mean, you want me, a civilian, to join you to infiltrate a highly armed group that hates humans, can you think the problems of that alone can bring?"

Not a few seconds after he said that did Blake's face finally shown surprise at what her plan entailed. Her obsession with the White Fang and her short sleep made her not think about the situations that could happen when having a normal person be at a place there not suited for.

"I'm sorry." Her face was downcast and her disguised bow slightly falling forward. "I just didn't think a head."

' _I can't lie to save my butt like Blake can, which is why being honest about how I feel about this will throw her off.'_

"Blake," Jaune started to notice the dark bags under her eyes. "Have you been sleeping properly?"

"No," Her shoulders slumped. "I've been researching about White Fang activity and Spider-Man sightings with barely enough sleep. Don't say that I should rest, I'm too close to stop now, not when I finally got a chance to catch Roman."

"Don't worry, I'm sure your team will be the ones to say it not me. I'm just concerned about how this will affect the plan."

"It won't." She said stubbornly.

"Look, you and I both know that when the plan is set in motion, Spider-Man will do as much as he can while you see what Roman has to offer the Faunus that are joining the Fang."

This time, Blake was starting to see how this would be more beneficial to both of parties, even if she has her doubts the black-haired girl could see the logic about throwing someone off the trail.

"You can see how logical this idea is, I'll make sure to give them a false location, you and Spider-Man find out what Roman has in store, catch him red handed, and bask in comfort knowing you just sent one of the most wanted man in Remnant."

' _And with pictures showing Spider-Man helping a Huntress catch someone dangerous could finally make people who think I'm not a criminal have a better perspective of me. Plus, rubbing the evidence at J.J is a bonus, too.'_

"You sound pretty sure that Spider-Man will also agree to this." She reminded him that if the plan would work she would also need the wall crawler's agreement. "Will he accept the idea and help? I know he prefers the direct approach since he's been catching Roman's thugs every night, so I'm sure when he shows up his costume will be a big give away."

' _Hey! The red and blue is iconic, cool, and the only colors I had available to me at the 99 Lien store.'_

"I'm serious about his design. I know how he likes to dress up as a hero, but for this to work we need him to sneak in without detection. I'm also positive that even a human can see him a mile away thanks to his get up, so he needs to either ditch the costume or sneak in with me."

A stealth operation required stealth to complete the task at hand, Spider-Man knows this better than anyone when it comes to sneaking in the shadows. Thanks to his abilities that allow him to be extremely flexible and nimble thugs and gangsters never knew what hit'em before it was too late.

And even when they did spot him, the web head would do it intentionally in situations when criminals decided to put the innocent in harm's way. Wearing bright colors makes it easier for them to shoot him rather than miss and hit someone unlucky enough to be caught in the cross fire.

' _It would be very useful to wear something that complements my stealth techniques, but I already put too much on upgrading my spider suit that I don't know if I have enough time and money to make a different one.'_

"I'll see if he can comb through his closet for something more discreet." Taking out his scroll to check the time, the secret hero was surprised to see that their conversation lasted over an hour. "Wow, look at the time. I should probably go home, I don't want my aunt to be worried."

"How is she, by the way?" Jaune stared at Blake, making the girl's cheeks flush with embarrassment for asking a question like that out of the blue. "The first time we met she made quite the impression. I was just wondering how she's doing."

"She's doing great." He remembered her smile when she had Blake over at the house. "Now that I think about it, I'm sure she's going to be even happier knowing that I stayed out of the house due to me talking to a girl."

Her tired eye was now showing signs of amusement after hearing that comment, letting the serious atmosphere fade away to make room for small talk.

"I'm glad that she's doing fine then." She checked her own scroll to see if anyone messaged her. "I should also be back to Beacon, I've been gone for a while I'm sure my team will start searching. Take care of yourself." She got out of her seat and reached her hand out to him.

"You too, Blake." Extending his hand out, Jaune shook the cat girl's hand. "I'll make sure to give the message to Spider-Man to meet you."

"Oh! Right, let me right down the information again." Using a napkin from the table, Blake written the time and location of where they should meet. "Make sure he meets me there in a few days and remember about my team asking you where I am."

"Don't worry, I'll make sure to stall for time." He reassured her.

See as there was nothing left to say, the blonde spider was packing up all his stuff to leave for home when he was stopped by his boss.

"Don't forget to pay." She pushed the check towards him.

"But, I didn't order anything." He spoke weakly while his hands automatically went to his already light wallet.

"You didn't, but your friends ordered take out and walked out before paying." She pushed it harder to his chest. "Don't forget to leave a tip too."

Looking inside the contents of the wallet, the broke hero turned his head in hopes to ask if Blake could help him out on this predicament.

"Blake, can you…" He didn't even finish his questions when all he saw was an empty chair where she once sat. Looking back at his boss, her features showing that she's getting impatient, Jaune gave his best smile and tried to get him out of this dilemma.

"Is it a possibility I can use the employee discount?"

"You know I don't give that, Jaune." As if knowing this would happen, she gave Jaune an apron she held in her other hand. "I'll call May to know you'll be working late."

' _I need to get better friends.'_

* * *

"Ok, from the top, what do I have left?" Jaune said to himself while wearing his spider costume and standing on top of a tall building as he goes through his wallet.

Due to the set back of him having to work off the meal his friends didn't pay for, Jaune had to race back home to put all his schoolwork away and explain his reason for being out late. Even though Aunt May already knew why since she's friends with the owner of the establishment, Jaune felt that he should tell her in his own words so Aunt can understand his problem.

"Invite her next time, Jaune~" He imitated Aunt May's voice. "She has a nice personality!"

When he started to talk about Blake, her worries about his financial struggles changed drastically and asked him if the girl will ever visit again.

"4…5.70… $8.75 is all that I have." Placing all the money back in his wallet, Spider-Man covered his face in depression. "That's not even enough to get something from the thrift store!"

Jumping off the roof, the wall crawler allowed gravity to take him close to the ground and when he was almost close to hitting the cement ground, he ejected a web line to another nearby roof and started to swing.

"I mean, I'm sure I could get something, but it's probably even worse than the usual stuff they sell to people."

Shooting web string from both of his hands, Spider-Man pulled both lines with enough force to send him leagues above the air to get a birds-eye view on the entire kingdom.

"I don't get paid until the end of the week and the plan starts the day before my paycheck."

Putting his hands over his head, the web head didn't seem to care when his body plummeted straight down.

"My spider sense isn't picking up any trouble, but the night is still young. Maybe I'll get some good pictures so J.J can pay me more. Though, after the whole bank thing, I seriously doubt anything else will be as interesting."

As soon as he started to see the city lights getting closer, Spider-Man extended his arm to shoot a web line to slow down his fall and repeated his earlier movement of web swinging. Now, swinging on ground level, Spider-Man's body automatically weaved past cars as they drove on past him as he continued to do his daily patrolling.

"I need a suit that's more suited for hiding, maybe make it look intimidating too. Hmm... maybe I co-"

His spider sense suddenly tells him that danger is approaching from in front of him, his body automatically did a back flip while in mid-web swing to avoid a large semi-truck that almost collided with him. Finishing his back flip by landing in a crouch on top of the truck's trailer, Spider-Man used his adhesive property to sit crossed legged as he kept thinking of different ways to get a new costume without having to use the rest of his money.

' _I seriously doubt they'll only post White Fang security, I'm sure Roman will have most of his men guard the important stuff while the Fang is just there to ease the Faunus into joining them. Hmm...?'_

"Well, now," Lifting both of his hands above his head as the large truck was about to pass a stop light, Spider-Man grabbed on to the large traffic light, used the momentum of swinging forward, performed a full swing and landed in a crouch on top of the light post. "Spidey sense is picking up something nearby. A robbery perhaps? Better be safe than sorry."

Leaping off his view point, Spider-Man followed where his spider sense was most strong leading him down to some local dive bar. Its building seemed to be your typical bar that was filled with loud, obnoxious, and frunk patrons with some wobblily out of the establishment to get back home. Usually, when such large amounts of people drinking alcohol this late at night should cause a ruckus or a few brawls, but what Spider-Man saw was none of the usual rabble rousing.

' _Weird, my spider sense never gives me bad directions, it's not like a GPS that gives drivers bad directions.'_

Standing on top of a closed restaurant right across from the lively bar, Spider-Man still felt the back of his skull warning him that danger is still nearby.

' _Maybe I should check the back of the place?'_ Getting a running jump, he shot a small line to the bar's neon sign, pulled himself closer, and just as he was about to hit the neon sign, he landed feet first, jumped over the sign and landed on the rooftop. _'Woah! Starting to feel some serious distress coming from the back of this place. Man, why are most crimes I always see be in a dark alleyway? Though, It's a nice little break between large fights with Roman or Sandman. Oh, man, I hope I won't encounter someone with weird powers like Flint. Now that would be diff-'_

"Let me go!" A female in distress screamed, making the hero go into overtime as he dashed to the end of the roof and jumped down to ground level.

Despite the bright lamp posts illuminating the streets and between the spaces of every building the alley way still held darkness that some would need a light to see what was in front of them. Luckily enough, thanks to his ability to see in the dark, Spider-Man had a clear view on who was in trouble as well as who was the one causing it.

The sight in front of Jaune was what he usually saw whenever normal crimes like these occur. The woman, around mid-twenties and wearing a simple sun dress was in trouble by what appears to be an older male who was wobbling back and forth in place. A simple drunk harassing a girl was something he usually got from situations like these, what made this play out even more gravely was a body of a man just a few feet away from the girl who was still screaming for someone to help.

"Geez, lady, stop screaming." The man said in a slurred voice. "Your making my head hurt."

"Let me go!" Not listening to what he was saying, the woman kept her voice on high while she used her free hand to punch the stranger in the chest. "Police! This man harmed my boyfriend!"

"Hey! I told you that was an accident and I was sorry." As if trying to make this situation less tense, the drunk man pulled something from behind him in hopes to calm the girl down. "Listen, to make up for it I'll call a cab so you two can go ho-"

"HHHEEEELLP!" She screamed louder when her eyes saw what he was holding. "This man has a weapon!"

' _Holy smokes! This is not what I thought your average drunk would have on his person.'_

Moving his head to see what she was yelling about; the drunkard was holding a large weapon instead of a scroll he intended to grab.

"Damn it!" Due to his mind in a complete drunken stupor, the stranger dangerously inched the blade close to the woman's face. "Can you hold this while I grab my scroll?"

 **(TWIP)**

"Huh?" Unable to move his weapon any further, he looked at his blade to see a web line attached itself to the hilt of his sword. "Well, now, this is a pretty fast encounter."

No longer paying any attention to the woman, the sword wielding drunk gave the hero a lop-sided grin and spoke in a much more controlled voice.

"Finally got your attention, hero. Listen, I know this might sound sudden, but we need to tal-"

Unfortunately, he was unable to say he piece when Spider-Man quickly closed the distance between them and punched the drunk's face. With the punch catching him off guard, the stranger lost his hold on the helpless civilian and stumbled away before he crashed into a pile of trash.

"Are you ok, ma'am?" Spider-Man asked her.

"Thank you, Spider-Man." Her face no longer showing fear, but relief that a hero showed up to safe her. "But, my boyfriend..."

Taking a glance at her significant other that was sprawled on the dirty ground, the hero saw the man's chest slowly rise and fall signaling he was still alive.

"He's still alive." Spider-Man answered. "Can you lift him up and get somewhere safe?"

"Y-yes!" Wasting no time, the girlfriend placed an arm over her neck to get them both to safety.

"When you do get some distance, call the police about the incident." Hearing the thug getting back up, the web head got into a fighting stance to take the man in to custody. "This won't take long."

By the time the couple left the dark narrow space to call for help, Spider-Man took a cautious step to make sure he didn't put the thug in too much pain.

"Ok, I think it's about time you stopped drinking and come wi-HOLY SMOKES YOU SMELL!"

Not even taking less than five steps did the hero in the blue hoodie reel in disgust as his nose was assaulted with a thick miasma of alcohol.

' _Geez, either I didn't know my nose was that sensitive to smell, or that he's so drunk he's basically sweating pure alcohol.'_

In his paranoia, Spider-Man took a whiff from the same fist he used to punch the criminal.

"Wooooo!" Not a second later his head snapped back after his nose was assaulted with the same stench the man was emitting now on his gloved hand. "Oh noooo! I'm not sure no amount of bleach and washing will get this stench out."

"Ugh!" Finally getting his bearings, the drunk used an arm to steady his feet while also shaking off the punch Spider-Man inflicted him. "That was some punch, it's up there with a certain blonde jerk I know and his daughter, but not as nearly as strong."

No longer making light of the situation, the blonde spider ignored the stench and focused on the man who was now on his feet with no sign of a bruise on his face.

' _Not as strong? That should have knocked him out cold, but he got up like it was nothing! He must have aura, that's the only explanation why my punch didn't affect him. Guess I need to put more back into the next one.'_

Moving his lower jaw to check if there was any serious damage, the sword user looked at the hero and spoke in his usual laid-back tone.

"Listen," Pushing himself off the wall, he was going to walk to the hero, but stopped when he felt a bit of vertigo. "Ugh! Dang, that punch packs something fierce, that or I'm feeling my hangover."

"Sir," The web head raised his fists in a defensive position. "I don't want to blame you for attacking that couple, so I'll just assume you're too drunk to control yourself and I'll just help you get to a nice cell so you can sleep it off."

"Look, Spider-whatever your name was, I'm not that drunk." He insisted.

But taking a glance at how the man was moving side to side with a large bladed weapon, Spider-Man didn't buy what the man was implying.

No longer taking any chances with a heavily armed drunk, Spider-Man shot a web line to ensnare him so he couldn't harm others and himself. As soon as the silk line attached to the man's torso, Spider-Man was about to begin wrapping the man up when out of nowhere the man swung his blade cutting the line in several segments.

Caught off guard, Spider-Man jumped back and got in a low crouch, his legs bulging like a spring-loaded piston ready to dodge if the man attacked, and readied his web shooters just in case some dust webbing will be needed.

"Sorry," Taking the remaining strand of webbing that was still on him, the semi-drunk flicked it off, lifted his sword, and rested it on his shoulder. "But I prefer you not eject anything that comes out of you on me."

' _Ew! Why did he have to make it sound so gross?'_

Not letting himself get caught up in his opponent's comment, Spider-Man silently analyzed the man in front of him and tried to think what's the best way to take him down. Normal webbing was his go to when dealing with crooks, but with how fast that man was able to swing his sword made Spider-Man re-evaluate who he's fighting.

' _Aura, oversized weapon, and quick reflexes. No doubt about it, he's a Huntsman and a skilled one at that.'_

"Since you're trying to look cool by being quiet, I'll just use this time to finally tell you what happened." The man's slurred words snapped Spider-Man's thinking and paid attention to what he's about to say. "I'm Qrow Branwen, and I just want to talk."

"You say 'talk', but when I got here you knocked some guy out and was holding a woman while brandishing a large butcher knife in front of her. If this is your way of getting my attention, then you're way worse than my fans."

"HA!" The sudden outburst made the hero twitch involuntary. "Don't flatter yourself, I ain't like my nieces, especially my youngest. No, I'm not one of your fans, I'm just here to talk about you and you crusade against crime."

The way he said that last sentence made it sound condescending and quite honestly made Spider-Man a bit mad. It was understandable, really, a person who tried his best to do something to its fullest being talked down by some rando could make anybody mad. But the hero knew that people would say something like that, especially Huntsman, so it was his best interest to ignore what Qrow said and get back to the topic at hand.

"Ok, Qrow." No longer having any reason to stay crouched, Spider-Man stood back and raised his arms. "I'm here, so please tell me what's so important that you needed to involve innocent people? The same innocent people I might add, are calling the cops and should be on their way in a matter of moments."

"Ok, ok, I get how this paints me as a bad guy." Stabbing the blade into the solid cement floor with little effort, Qrow used his limited amount of time to explain his reason. "Can you believe me if I told you that it was an accident?"

"I'm going to hit you again." The web head raised his fist to show he was serious. _'Maybe this time I'll put a little more strength in it too. Maybe that'll knock the drunk out of you.'_

"I'm serious!" Qrow waved his hands in front of him. "All I did was drink a few Glasses of rum."

"A few?" Spider-Man raised an eyebrow under his mask. "I feel like we have a different definition on the word: few. I mean, I can smell the booze from you all the way here! Not to mention I'll have to spend hours trying to get the smell of cheap liquor from my glove."

"Trust me, Spidey." Qrow smirked and crossed his arms as if proud for his alcoholism. "You wouldn't like me when I'm drunk. All I did was pay for a few glasses, left, and was leaving till I saw some guy getting way too frisky with a girl."

"And how did it escalate so quickly?" Spider-Man asked.

Pulling out his hip flask, Qrow took a few chugs of his favorite brandy, unleashed a loud belch, then started to speak in his original semi-drunk state.

"Ok, so, it started like this."

* * *

"And that, my friend." Letting out a loud burp, Qrow slammed his shot glass on the messy bar counter. "Is why chicks with white hair are stuck-up, heartless, and will die alone with over fifty cats. Also, girls who have a power complex are _terrible, and_ you should not marry them."

"For the last time," The bartender took the empty glass and wiped the counter. "I'm not your friend, and I'm not getting you another drink, so get out."

"But, I paid for another shot!" Qrow argued.

"With what? You didn't even show me any currency for the past 4 to 6 shots!" To prove that he wasn't lying, the bartender slammed the receipt of how much Qrow has stacked up.

"I paid you in good advice." Raising the glass to his mouth for another shot, the Veteran Huntsman soon realized that all he's been drinking was nothing but air. Looking inside the glass, his eyes looked through to see the bartender still scowling in a misshapen form. "Then again, I'm sure my advice would have helped you if you were a few years younger and not working at a place like this."

"Get out." Finally wasting all his patience, the man attending the bar grabbed all the empty glasses Qrow collected and slammed the bill to get his point across that he wasn't in the mood to handle a drunk.

"Fine, fine." Knowing when to read the room, Qrow fished out the amount he owed to the man and stumbled out of the establishment. "Can't believe I wasted good knowledge on a guy like him. He's no better than the students I teach at Signal."

Usually, Qrow tended to drink at bars whenever he had the time from completing missions tasked out by Ozpin, though recently he's been having trouble trying to complete a mission regarding Vale's own superhero.

"Ok," Qrow burped loudly enough for dome of the bystanders to look at him in disgust as they walked past him. "Where are you now, you web slinging son-of-a..." He was about to finish his last sentence when he suddenly felt the call of nature. "Oh boy, should have gone to the bathroom when I had the chance."

When Qrow had the mission to try and follow the so called 'Hero', he thought that it was going to be far easier than trying to track the Queen. His ability allowed him to follow his foes and see what secrets they were hiding, none the wiser that they were revealing their plans to Qrow as he silently watched them. He thought he could easily follow the hero and talk to him when he was alone, better yet maybe even see who was under the mask so it would be easier for Ozpin and the rest of the inner circle know who their masked ally was.

' _Just a routine mission, no muss nor fuss.'_

That was what Qrow first thought at least when he found the web head help some kid get his pet down from a tree and tried to follow him.

Tried. That was what he did when following the wed head as the hero swung from building to building as if he too was flying like Qrow. At first, the veteran Huntsman thought it would be simple to tail the hero by flying, but as soon as Spider-Man started to go further and further into the kingdom it became more and more harder for him to follow. Him, Qrow Bradwen, professional Huntsman and one of Ozpin's most trusted friend unable to keep up with a guy wearing bright colored spandex in the air.

Soon, it became difficult for Qrow to track this mystery man down. With every attempt at trying to know more about the man behind the mask, the red eyed Huntsman became more certain that the man's skills were nothing to sneeze at.

From stopping cars from hitting people to lifting impossibly heavy things no Huntsman could lift, Spider-Man did things that few people could do. This made him an important figure, not just simply stopping crime from gaining too much influence in the kingdom, but to the people most of all.

For as long at Qrow can remember, he always saw Vale as a place that people could make it or break it with a very small percentage of people making it. He thought that this place would never change, but it seems that Spider-Man's selfless attitude and heroism made an actual impression in Vale for the better.

And after stopping that Sand monster from stealing a truck load of Lien, Qrow can safely say that Spider-Man became an instant icon.

"Here's a good spot." Since he was no longer welcomed inside anymore, the scythe wielder did the next best thing by going behind the bar to do his business. "After this, I'm on the hunt! Or maybe after taking a nap for a good fifteen... fifty-minute nap."

Doesn't help that every time Qrow tried to track Spider-Man he had to report to his boss empty handed with nothing to show for it. How Spider-Man could allude him was beyond him, Qrow does have a hunch that maybe Spider-Man has a semblance that is some form of detection. What type of detection he doesn't know, the only thing he's certain was that the wall crawler might have a semblance that helps Spider-Man with sensing things around him.

He's seen it happen multiple times when he was on stake out, seeing the hero use simple punches and kicks like he never been taught to properly fight. It might not be concrete, but the information about his semblance was literally the only thing he's learned about him. So, since the initial plan of trying to track down Spider-Man was coming up with nothing, Ozpin decided to give Qrow a different approach to get the hero.

"Stop It!" Faintly, his well-trained hearing made the Huntsman stopped moving and focused on the call of distress. "I said stop."

The man sighed. "Welp, guess I'll have to put a hold on that nap." Having at least some sense in his drunk fogged brain, the alcoholic Huntsman followed the sound until he finally saw two silhouettes of a female trying to fight off some man that was getting to handsy with her.

' _This is why I don't want Yang to ever go out with a boy when drinking. Oh, who am I kidding? She's gonna rip his head off and spit down his throat if he tries anything like that. Man, I pity whatever guy pressures her into prom sex. Then again, I think there will be a dance soon in Beacon… meh, I'll cross that bridge when I get there.'_

"Wait, what was I going to do again?" Another shout from the damsel in distress finally jogged his memory and caused him to spring into action. "Right, stopping drunk hormones."

Now, when it came to normal civilians that don't have aura Huntsmen had to be delicate when dealing with problems within the kingdom. Some crimes that even the police force couldn't handle had to resort to asking Huntsmen for back up. They weren't fighting Grimm, monsters that could decimate villages in a single night, they were dealing with normal, everyday people that required a more humane way of solving problems.

Unfortunately, Qrow had none of that since he was brick faced drunk and had no control of his strength what so ever.

"WAAH!" Not prepared to be flung away, the man that was harassing the girl was thrown back, hitting the wall behind him so hard that he instantly collapsed and fell unconscious.

"OH MY GOSH!" Covering her mouth in surprise, the girl could only just stare at her hero who saved her.

"Your welcome." He slurred. "I mean… no thanks are necessary."

"You…You…"

"I know, I know." He waved her off. "I'm no Spider-Man, so any hope of you kissing him in an alley is down the drain."

"You…. BASTARD!" Now having her wits about, the woman punched the man in the chest and winced when she felt like she hit a wall. "That was my boyfriend!"

"Excuse me? Did I not hear you keep saying to him the word: stop?"

"That's because he's drunk and wouldn't give me the keys to drive us back home!" She explained to him her situation.

"Ok, calm down, ma'am."

"No! I'm calling the police!" Just when she was about to grab her scroll from her purse, her arm was stopped when Qrow grabbed it. "Let me go!"

"Geez, lady, stop screaming." The man said in a slurred voice. "Your making my head hurt."

"Let me go." Not listening to what he was saying, the woman kept her voice on high while she used her free hand to punch the stranger in the chest. "Police! This man harmed my boyfriend!"

' _I don't have time for this.'_

"Hey! I told you that was an accident and I was sorry." Not wanting to make the situation more worse for him, Qrow pulled out his scroll in hopes he can help them get home. "Listen, to make up for it I'll call a cab so you two can go ho-"

"HHHEEEELLP!" Her scream became twice as louder making the Huntsman wince in surprise. "This man has a weapon!"

"Damn it!" Looking to see what he has holding, Qrow accidentally drew out his weapon Harbinger by accident.

' _How did I mistake my weapon for a scroll? Man, I need to control my drinking…. I'll put a maybe on that for now.'_

By this point, he should just sheath his scythe back in its place and grab his scroll as intended, but throwing logic away the unlucky man decided the most logical choice was to bring real close to the scared woman's face.

"Can you hold this while I grab my scroll?"

 **(TWIP)**

"Huh?" Unable to move it closer, Qrow was surprised that the reason behind it was a silk line attached to the back of his blade. "Well now, this is a pretty fast encounter."

' _Ozpin did say to get his attention, so maybe I don't have to waste my energy after all.'_

No longer paying any attention to the woman, the sword wielding drunk gave the hero a lop-sided grin and spoke in a much more controlled voice.

"Finally got your attention, hero. Listen, I know this might sound sudden, but we need to tal-"

Without warning, Qrow's face was immediately greeted by Spider-Man fist ending the conversation before it can start.

* * *

"And you know the rest of the story." Qrow finished his story and took out his flask to drink.

"Um," Spider-Man rubbed the back of his head. "I do, but did you really have to add the part where you were at the bar or when you had to take a leak?"

"You said you wanted to hear the side of my story."

"I didn't need to know all of that. Just telling me the part where you thought her boyfriend was a creep was enough to tell me it was a misunderstanding."

"Eh." He shrugged. "Just wanted to tell you my side of the story."

"Well, if you wanted to get my attention..." Spider-Man leaned on the wall of the dive bar where Qrow left due to the owner not liking him. "You got it."

Getting back to his intended mission, Qrow took one more swig from his flask before explaining why he needed to talk to the spider hero.

"You've been getting some attention in Vale lately, even more so thanks to that Sand monster wrecking property from other kingdoms at the docks. By the way, nice tactic you used with the cement bags to hold him in place. Thought it wouldn't hold him for long, but I guess I was wrong."

' _Sandman, he's talking about Flint? But, how did he know I used cement bags?'_

"How did you know about that?" Spider-Man asked suspiciously. "I know pictures from the Bugle showed Flint as a statue, but how did you know he almost escaped?"

"Hey, you ain't the only one who can keep a secret." Qrow dodged the question. "Let's just say a benefactor of mine has eyes and ears throughout the kingdom."

"Benefactor?" Images of Osborn came to mind, not only for his wealth, but also for being one of the most influential man in Vale. "What does Oscorp have to do with this?"

"Oscorp?" The name threw Qrow off for a second, not prepared to hear a name like that from the hero. "How is Oscorp linked to this?"

' _Ugh! Guess he isn't working for Mr. Osborn's company like those enforcers, but I should've kept that information to myself. If Oscorp really is making people like Flint then I shouldn't let this guy know about it. Heck, for all I know Qrow's boss might be ten times worse than Oscorp.'_

"Hey, you ain't the only one who can keep a secret." Spider-Man imitated Qrow's voice.

"Heh, cheeky punk. Either way, I can already see that you know your way around Vale, so well in fact that you know what's already happening to the kingdom."

"You mean Roman and the White Fang?" Spider-Man guessed who he believed to be the reason.

"You got to think bigger, Spider-Man. Do you really think Roman will be in league with a group of terrorists that are more gun-ho on killing humans the working with them?"

' _He might have a point. Even If I put Roman behind bars, the person behind both Roman and the Fang is still at large.'_

"Think." He placed an index finger to his right temple. "There's a bigger player on the field and we're poorly set up to defeat her. All we know is that she's the Queen and she set her sights on Vale."

"Wait! Wait! Wait!" The young hero shook his head at the lunacy of what he was hearing. "Are you saying that there's a conspiracy even more dangerous than Roman working with The Fang? I'm sorry, but this is _way_ too much for me."

"You're one to talk." Spider-Man tilted his head to show that he was at lost on what Qrow has said. "How you're able to take out so much crime by yourself, the way you fight, the speed, endurance, strength, and some other factors are way beyond what normal Huntsman are capable of. And that also makes me go to another part of why I needed to talk to you."

"What? You think this Queen will be after me too? I'm pretty sure I'm already on Roman's kill list, not to mention I'm sure the White Fang also has a hit on me. Don't get me started on other small-time gangs I took down too." He counted them all in one hand.

"Trust me, If the Queen already has her sights set on you, you wouldn't be making fun of the situation you're in. For now, we assume that you haven't gotten the attention of the Queen yet is because she doesn't take you seriously enough."

' _The story of my life with any girl I try to get involved with.'_

"You said 'we', so I can safely assume your boss is a good guy?"

"My boss has been around for quite some time and he's got some enemies even more dangerous than the Grimm."

Feeling as if he has taken a turn to crazy town, Spider-Man was going to ask Qrow more about his boss when he heard the police siren not too far away.

"Looks, like our conversation needs to be moved somewhere else." Taking this as a sign to leave, Qrow gestured Spider-Man to follow him. "I know a couple of good places that we won't be interrupted, we should g-"

"Hey, wait! You still need to talk to the police." Spider-Man reasoned with him.

"Excuse me?" Qrow looked at Spider-Man like he was crazy. "You do know most of the police in Vale are in Roman's pay roll, right?"

"Not most of them." He defended the local law enforcement. "If you can just turn yourself in and explain that this was a misunderstanding I'm sure they can drop the charges or at best you'll be doing community service. After that, then we can talk about secret crime bosses and clandestine agendas."

"Right." Looking at his invisible watch, Qrow stayed silent for a few minutes to contemplate his options. "How about this…?"

Standing in silence to hear what Qrow was about to say, Spider-Man didn't anticipate the experienced huntsman to bolt out of the alleyway.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" Just when he was about to give chase, Spider-Man was stopped when two police officers blocked his path.

' _How did they not catch him? He was going the same way they were.'_

"Put your hand behind your head!" The officer to the right ordered. "By the order of the council, we are here to arrest you, Spider-Man!"

"Seriously!? I was the reason you guys are here in the first place. Did you not see the drunk guy run past you?"

"The lady that called did say that some inebriated fellow assaulted her boyfriend." The man on the left talked to his partner.

"We don't know what you're talking about. The person we see right now is you and you're wanted with several charges of vigilantism!"

"Come on, man!" Complying with the police, Spider-Man raised his arms in the air. "I can't believe I defended you guys just now..."

"Cuff him, I'll make sure he doesn't make any movement."

Nodding to his partner, the cop from the left put away his weapon, pulled out a set of cuffs, and was about to walk to the hero. "You're coming down to the station to answer some questions, weirdo."

 **(TWIP)**

 **(TWIP)**

Shooting two silk lines in the air, Spider-Man pulled them with his super strength allowing him to be lifted off the ground and escaping the police. While in the air the masked hero shot another line to a random rooftop to get more distance between him and the cops in case they might call in for backup.

"You ain't getting away that easily." Thanks to his night vision, Spider-Man could see through the low visibility where the lights of the streets lamps below couldn't illuminate. "There you are!"

Just a few buildings away from him, Spider-Man could see the running Huntsman jumping from roof to roof. "If you think you can escape by using buildings then you really don't know who you're dealing with."

* * *

"Blegh! Oh, man." The red-eyed man clutched his stomach. "I really shouldn't be flying and drinking."

To say that the talk between him and the hero was going smooth was comparing on how his talk with his sister was like. Full of secrets and running away before answering questions that matter, but even then, he would rather speak to the masked stranger then his own sister.

"Still, I can at least tell Ozpin that Spider-Man might be interested to listen to what we have to say." Looking around to check if anyone was around, Qrow took out his scroll to call in his report. "Now, all I need to do is find another chance to meet hi-"

"Got you!"

His aura flared when he felt a heavy pressure tackle him to the ground, like an air bag softening the blow of a crash, Qrow was surprised to see Spider-Man pinning him down with so much strength he felt like a truck was on top of him.

' _He already closed the distance that fast! I was sure I put enough space between us to not catch me!'_

"You said you're part of some group to protect Vale and just when the police arrive you ditched me!?" Qrow was about to answer, but he choked on words when Spider-man applied more pressure. "You suck at trying to make people believe you. No more tricks and no running, you're going to talk to the police and tell them what you did."

"Blgh." His only reply to the hero was a gurgle.

"What?" Hoping that he didn't tackle him to hard, Spider-Man lifted the adult man with one arm and examined him. "Are you ok? I just wanted to stop you from running away, I hope I didn't hurt you."

' _Is this guy apologizing? He's way too nice, reminds me Ruby.'_ Qrow's reply was his stomach rumbling and threating to leave through his mouth. _'Maybe that tackle knocked something loose. I should probably tell him that he should let me go.'_

Nodding his head to show that he was ok, Qrow was about to tell Spider-Man more when his stomach could no longer hold the contents within.

"BLEGH!" Upchucking his dinner as well as the drinks from the bar, Qrow Branwen, Veteran Huntsman and all around badass, threw up all over Vale's icon.

"..."

Frozen in horror for what has happened to him, Spider-Man took a few steps away from the man to assess how much vomit was Qrow unleashed on him.

Qrow, on the other hand, just stared at Spider-Man who continued to look at his now vomit covered costume and no longer paying attention to the person who did it.

Seeing that this was a bad sign, Qrow was going to apologize when he saw that Spider-Man was too close to the edge of the roof.

"Hey, wait!" Lifting his hand to stop Spider-Man from walking back any further, Qrow was only just an inch away from grabbing the Spider-Man's vomit covered costume.

But, like always, his misfortune always brings bad luck to wherever he goes.

"WAAAH!" Not noticing the vomit that spilled beneath him, Spider-Man's footing slipped form the slick gunk and fell off the roof.

Spider sense kicking in from impending danger, his body reacted by shooting a web line to the roof he fell from to stop his decent. Just when the line latched on piece of the roof crumbled due to the sudden weight making the hero to continue to fall and land back first into an opened dumpster.

"Ooohh.. AAH!" Even though the fall may have been lessened the damage thanks to the trash cushioning the blow, it did not help the hero what-so-ever when the ruble that the web string attached to it fell onto the hero now buried in trash and solid cement.

Feeling that this was his fault, Qrow was thinking about going down to check if he was ok when his scroll rang showing the name of the caller. Answering the call, Qrow looked down to where Spider-Man fell while he answered his scroll.

"Hey, Ozpin, I got good news. Yeah, I got Spider-Man's attention about who's behind all this, but I feel like he's going to take more convincing than just me telling him about it. Don't worry, I got a plan," Looking to where they first talked, Qrow could see several police lights beginning to get closer and closer.

"Though, I think, I might give Spider-Man some time before I talk to him again. You know, so he can absorb all of the information I gave him."

* * *

 **WOOOOOOOW! I did not expect for this chapter to take this long to make and I am sorry for the long wait! I know this was supposed to be on Sunday, but I felt this was long overdue and also I'll probably forget to post it since this entire weekend I'll be at Anime Expo! This will be my first time, so I hope when I publish the next chapter I can tell ya'll the awesome stories about it!**

 **I hope you guys like this chapter and how I introduced Ruby's drunk uncle, I also hope you guys like the way I portray him and Spider-Man's interaction. I always read how heroes meet each other in a misunderstanding and a fight always happens. Well, I thought about Qrow and his misfortune Semblance and I thought that this is more of a spoof of how a fight should have happened, but instead it was Spider-Man having the worst of luck.**

 **I also hope that this was a good way to introduce the part where the story will now get involved with Roman and the highway fight soon. With Blake now getting more involved with the White Fang I plan for her to always talk to Jaune in hopes she can make a partnership with Spider-Man to help her stop the radical group she used to be in. Not to mention, with her involved in his personal life, so will the rest of her team, even though Ruby hangs out with him I wanted to get a better way to have RWBY get more involved with our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. For what type of species he is, I feel like he is on the fence between being human and Faunus, so whenever he's Jaune he's human and when he's Spider-Man he will be a Faunus since that would be easier to understand his dilemma between the two species.**

 **This chapter was also a test to see how well I write in a longer pace then the shorter one I usually make in a few weeks. I feel like I might go back to small worded chapters then longs ones, but please leave a comment to see how well I made this chapter and I might make it more often.**

 **And like always, here is an omake you guys have been waiting for. Hope you like, fav, and follow this story as well as follow by Beta-Readers stories too!**

* * *

 **(Omake: Test ride)**

* * *

Atlas was always the kingdom that takes pride in its advancement towards technology and ingenuity. A shining example that people with great minds can achieve great things to better society with convenience. It's also a place where the richest and cold-hearted use their power to will other people into following them. Even Atlas military, one of the biggest and if not, strongest military might in all of Remnant, are being controlled by powerful corporations such as Hammer industries and the most well-known Family that controls almost any that's dust related: The SDC.

Also known for as the Schnee Dust Company, many people throughout the four kingdoms knows about how they are the owners of the most needed energy resource, dust, that practically help people do their daily task and supply soldiers and Huntsmen with needed ammunition. The SDC is so large, that it oversees most Dust mines throughout the kingdom of Atlas and some bordering near her neighboring kingdoms.

"Has all of the weapons been secured?" The captain of the small group of White Fang asked one of his subordinates.

Such as having a long reach of owned land, it gets harder and harder for the owner to keep track of so much land. That is the case here in one of the mines that the White Fang took over, by using this as a base they are one step closer to sneaking out high quality weapons that Atlas military has been keeping secret from the rest of the kingdoms.

"We're almost ready, sir." One of the masked Fang members answered. "But, for some reasons, we can't reach our brethren from the small village a few miles from here."

"Odd, they should have answered us minutes ago. See if we can send a small group to investigate, for all we know the people of the village might have caught them by surprise."

"Yes, sir." The lackey said. "We have also successfully shipped off one of the weapons to Vale. In a few days the paladin should be in the kingdom and our influence in Vale will increase."

"If the reports on how Spider-Man is influencing the Faunus in Vale, then I doubt just a few of these things will sway them to our cause. Double up the speed of shipment, if they don't respond we leave th-"

"Sir! I got a frequency!" The Faunus that was radioing the other half of their group spoke.

"Is it from us? Or an enemy?" The captain asked. "We don't have enough men to fight the soldiers from Atlas and we don't know how to piolet one of these things!"

' _Not to mention, Alexi left with the shipment of weapons to guard them until it reaches Vale.'_

"I'm picking up something from our men's radio chat! It's… music?"

"Music?! Why are those idiots playing music on our radio frequency?! I swear when they get back, I'll-"

Without warning, the White Fang member who was using the radio dropped the device when out of nowhere the volume in the device increased making the music even more louder. Not just the radio, almost all their communications were soon enveloped with the same music causing all the armed terrorist to be on edged.

 **ALL YOU WOMEN WHO WANT A MAN ON THE STREET, BUT YOU DON'T KNOW WHICH WAY YOU WANNA TURN!**

"CUT THIS MUSIC OFF!" The leader shouted, clutching his sensitive ears to muffle the sound.

"I CAN'T! ALMOST EVERY CHANNEL I'M CHANGING TO HAS THE SAME THING PLAYING!" To prove his point, he showed the captain that every time he changed to a different channel the same music still played.

 **I'M GONNA TAKE YOU DOWN- DOWN, DOWN DOWN! SO, DON'T YOU FOOL AROUND!**

The captain didn't know what to think of this sudden development. He didn't know this was some type of joke being played on him or this was some elaborate distraction made by Atlas military. One thing was certain though, they were being attacked and he needed to get his men ready for action.

"BATTLE STATIONS! FIND GOOD COVER AND GET SOME OF THE MACHINES ON LINE!" He screamed his orders.

Some who were within hearing distance tried their best to get to a good cover spot for the ensuring gun fight, one of the Faunus who was planning on piloting the Paladin did his best to jump inside the cockpit.

 **(FFFSSSSS—BOOM)**

Out of the sky, a beam of light slammed in to the piolet and knocking him down to the solid ground, knocking him out instantly.

 **I'M GONNA PULL IT PULL IT, PULL THE TRIGGER!**

"UP THERE!" One of the White Fang members, a rabbit Faunus, pointed his rifle to where he saw the laser come from.

All guns aimed at the sky, they all thought that some stealth craft that Atlas made was being used to stop them, what they saw instead caught them completely off guard. In the sky they saw a small flying object, from afar it looked to be a drone that can also shoot beams of light, that idea soon changed when it got closer and closer to them.

Like a comet shooting down to Remnant, the metal object left a huge crater in the ground causing a huge snow cloud to cover it.

Stepping out of the crater, the armed radical saw was a man, completely covered in metal, bright glowing eyes, and what appears to be an even brighter circle imbedded in its chest. Surprised by this encounter, what happened next also caught them off guard when the metal man not only crash landed several leagues from the sky, it also started to talk.

"Gentlemen," Raising both arms, the man made of metal had both palms open to show small bright circles just like the big one in its chest. "I believe your friends at the Village won't be making it here today."

 **SHOOT TO THRILL! PLAY TO KILL!**

Hours later, news spread through the kingdom of Atlas of the White Fang as taken over one of SDC's dust camps and almost taken over a village, but was stopped by a single man.

When getting eye witness accounts from the village that was saved, they all said the same thing about a flying man made of metal helping them get their home back. Not knowing the name of said metal man, the news decided to name the unknown hero with a name that soon became well known in Atlas

Iron Man.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19: New Look**

* * *

The morning is always consisted of a breakfast with the TV on to show current events for Vale. A common monotony for the two who are living under the same roof.

Aunt May was usually the first one to wake up to start off today with her usual meal of sunny side up eggs and bacon with a side of toast. The fading blonde-haired women placed both plates across from each other, arranged the utensils, and started to pour the contents to each plate.

It was a simple meal, a meal she shared with her dearly departed loved ones, leaving her alone with just one attendant paying most of the bills as a form of rent to stay in one of the rooms. The effort she's putting into making the meal for two may seem odd at first sight, but making breakfast for her family became a second habit for the widow that Jaune felt like he really was family.

From his blue eyes and blonde hair, the two of them really did seem like they were related by look alone. Just knowing that made her heart feel a little less heavy knowing that she has some form of family left. Call her sad, desperate, or even delusional at the thought of someone not related to her by blood to be family. Mrs. Parker, would just shrug it off and continue to provide for her family as best as she could, fake or not.

Speaking about family…

"Jaune!" Aunt May called out his name. "Breakfast is ready!"

"…"

"Jaune!" She made her voice a little bit louder. "Your food's going to get cold!"

 _'Oh, I hope he remembered to turn his alarm clock on. Maybe I should go check on him.'_

Placing the rest of the food on a large plate, she placed it in the center of the table and walked up stairs to check if he was awake.

"Jaune?" She knocked on the door. "Are you awak-what in the world is that smell?"

 _'It smells like… liquor? But, he's underage he shouldn't be drinking.'_

"Jaune?" This time, her knocking became more rapid. "Are you ok? I smell something coming from your room, did you leave the house last night to dr-"

"Aunt May!" Catching her off guard by opening the door, the young hero gave her a warm smile and pecked her on the cheek. "Good Morning! Do I smell breakfast? Man, I am hungry! I'm awake now, so you don't have to worry!"

Not prepared from the sudden greeting, the only adult in the house still had her suspensions about that strange odor in Jaune's room.

"Are you hiding something?" She tried to look behind him, only for the teen to block her field of vision. "I smell something funky in your room. Are you drinking in there?"

"What!?" Jaune shook his head in rapid succession. "That's insane, Aunt may. You know I'm underage and you know I would never drink."

Wanting to believe his story, Aunt May sniffed the air around Jaune and she didn't smell any odors that could be related to late night drinking. The only thing she smelled was an odd odor lingering in his room, but she can't really assume it's liquor since she doesn't know any form of alcohol to smell like food.

 _'Must be my imagination, then.'_

"Well, now that you're up I made breakfast."

"Thanks", Aunt May, I'll be down real soon I just need to put my laundry away and I'll be down in a second."

"Ok, Jaune, but you also need to be wary of the time, don't want to be late for the bus again."

"I won't." Giving her a reassuring smile, the boy retracted his head back and closed the door. Holding the composure of being calm for a few more seconds, Jaune's façade broke leaving him to show his emotions to be in a small panic. "Too close, that was too close. Can't really say that I wasn't surprised she smelled alcohol on me."

Moving his eyes to the clothes pile he accumulated, the young man saw his spider costume in a crumpled ball on top of his civilian ones. Still leaning on the door, just a few whiffs from his nose and Jaune had to close his nostrils due to the stench still holding its potency.

"Man, that smell lingers something fierce. No wonder she could smell it from so far away, plus the fact that with the added scent of whatever Qrow ate for dinner and I'm pretty sure the dog from across the street could smell it from my room."

Grabbing the ruined costume out of the pile, Jaune laid the spider suit out on the floor to see the full extent of the mess it received last night.

"Large tears from the fall and the cement, lenses are cracked, and the smell from the booze, vomit, and trash isn't going away any time soon."

' _Diagnose: Need new costume._ '

"Oh, man..." He groaned. "I spent a lot of lien to upgrade this thing. Well, at least I have the spare to use."

Flinging the trashed suit from the opposite side of the room, Jaune pulled out his secret compartment to use his backup costume.

"It might not have the extra compartments I had for the upgraded one, but I'm sure it can still be…."

Staying silent after laying his eyes on the extra suit, Jaune reached in and pulled out his last costume to see in full detail of what he was seeing.

In front of him, was his extra costume, the costume he worn when fighting Sandman, the same costume that was thoroughly trashed after the fight and was immediately forgotten to be repaired.

"…Usable." Chewing the inside of his cheek, Jaune had to go back several days into his memories to find out why he never repaired this suit in case the other was unfit to be worn. Not even taking a minute to remember, only one word could give him a reason as to why he was in this predicament.

"Money. I used the money from the picture I got from beating Sandman, paid some of the bills for Aunt Man and used it to upgrade the second suit rather than use the extra lien to repair the one I worn when fighting Sandman."

Dropping the suit back in its compartment, Jaune ruffled his hair in frustration before stopping his assault on his blonde locks.

"It's ok." He said to himself. "It's my fault, I should've saved more money before splurging it on only just one suit."

Taking the moment to check the clock on his nightstand, Jaune saw that it was already past ten minutes from when Aunt May told him breakfast was ready, signaling the boy to put this situation on the backburner for now.

Unlocking the case, he shoved the ruined spare back in the it's compartment, pushed it under his bed, grabbed the vomit covered suit from the corner, opened the closet, and tossed the costume in the corner of his closet so it can't be seen. The same corner that that held his Family's heirloom weapon now being covered by Jaune's puke stained costume, with Jaune not even thinking twice about what he done as he shut his closet door shut.

Double checking that he didn't leave any evidence out in the open, Jaune proceeded to walk down stairs to start his morning with a good breakfast. Walking down stairs, the teen was about to enter the kitchen when he stopped walking to hear talking on the other side of the wall.

"I'm serious, I think Jaune is going out every night because he got himself another job."

' _Job? Wait, did she just say that…?'_

Mind now processing what he just heard, his body quickly hugged the wall and edged his head closer to hear better at what Aunt May was saying on the phone. He hated that he had to eavesdrop on what is probably a private call, but after hearing that she knew that he would sneak out at night, the secret hero had to find out if she knows anything else that could jeopardize his secret identity.

"It's obvious he always leaves at night to go somewhere. At first, I thought it was another job making him have four activities due to bills, but lately I'm starting to think he's doing something else."

His breath hitched, this was what he feared most, the one person he hoped didn't know his alter ego now fully aware she's housing someone labeled a criminal. Said caretaker is also saying this to one of her friends on the phone letting Jaune's second fear of his identity being spread all over Vale and letting all the criminals that the person who was giving them trouble an invitation to destroy his only home in Vale as well as the only important person within the kingdom: May Parker.

' _Calm down, calm down, you need to calm down, Jaune. Just keep listening, who knows, maybe she might say something completely ludicrous that doesn't involve me being Spider-Man. Wishful thinking, but that's the only thing I can count one.'_

Controlling his breath as to not signal Aunt May that he was eavesdropping on her phone call, the blonde spider continued to spy on what else she might know about his nightly activities.

"I've been watching the news lately and I always see that crime is still rampant, mostly involving dust shops, but it also says that thanks to Spider-Man the rate of crime is slowly lowering. I think Jaune leaving at night and Spider-Man stopping crime could be connected."

' _Wishful thinking, you can take a hike. Harsh reality, I guess you're steering my life now.'_

Seeing that there was no point to hear the conclusion, Jaune had to hurry and grab his things before Aunt May confronts him on the matter. He knew that when word gets out, the media will be desperate enough to have even a slight chance that he could be the masked vigilante and an even higher chance that the criminals of Vale will enact their revenge on him. Turning back upstairs, Aunt May's voice continued to echo loud enough for him to hear as he walked back to his…. Mrs. Parker's guest room.

"I think… I think Jaune has joined in some gang and is trying to steal lien."

' _What?!'_ Walking in reverse, not tripping thanks to his spider sense and amazing balance, Jaune went back to his original spot and listened to what Aunt May had to say about him.

"I can only assume that's why he always leaves at night. The jobs he has are helping, but even then, we're always in the thin line of losing the house. Maybe, he thinks the jobs aren't giving enough to help, so he's using crime to get the required amount we need to keep the house."

' _What..?'_ Face of worry and fear now replaced with a straight face of detachment, the young spider could only groan in his head at what Aunt May thinks of him as some no-good thug.

"I'm even more positive that he goes out at night to steal, because I always wake up hearing groaning noise coming from his room, like he was in pain from a fight. Making me believe that Jaune may have fought the police or worse fought Spider-Man."

It may have sounded weird, but Jaune felt happy that Aunt May would assume that he could take on his hero alter ego while experienced fighters like Roman and his little bodyguard could barely hit him.

"I know it sounds crazy, but still, I feel like he's doing something he shouldn't be doing at his age. How do I know this? Well, when I tried to wake him up I smelled a very heavy scent of what I think was booze and… goodness, I think Jaune drank so much he threw up on himself!"

' _I blame you Qrow! I swear, If I see you again I'll make sure you pay for my dry cleaning.'_

After a long period of silence from listening to what her friend has to say about May's story, the aging blonde let out a heavy sigh and spoke in a more relaxed tone.

"You might be right about the whole gang affiliated thing being blown out of proportion, but I know that he was drinking last night! Heck! He might actually be fighting, but he's in some kind of fight club! I know, we watched that movie a few weeks ago involving Fight club, but still it could be fight club! I know, I know he's not my nephew and that I should not stick my nose in other people's lives, but with Jaune's help with the house it really does feel like I still have a family."

Suddenly, a pit formed in his stomach, knowing full well that the reason he's feeling such guilt was that he had doubts of what Aunt May thought of him. Hearing that she thinks that he's family, made his ideas of her telling the cops about him to quickly die out and instead should focus on his original goal of repaying her for his mistakes.

' _Sorry for ever doubting you, Aunt May.'_

His secret identity no longer in jeopardy, Jaune walked in place with his footsteps being loud enough for Aunt May to know that he was on his way into the kitchen.

"Oh, I hear him coming down stairs, I'll talk to you later." Hanging up the phone, Mrs. Parker pulled out her seat just in time for Jaune to enter the kitchen. "Good morning, Jaune. Hope you like the breakfast, if it's a little cold I can warm it up for you if you like."

"Don't worry, Aunt May." Jaune picked up his utensils to enjoy his morning chow. "Your cooking's always great, regardless of it being hot or cold."

Enjoying the meal that was made for the fake family of two, Jaune grabbed his school bag, said his good bye to Aunt May, and walked to his bus stop. All the while remembering what happened yesterday when a certain Huntress deciding to visit him at school.

* * *

Whenever something interesting happens at school, students always asks each other who was in the center of the rumor. Either to know if it was a friend or someone they don't like, students want to know who was part of the rumor so they can go to the source and find out what truly happened.

Said source: Jaune, was currently in the middle of putting away his things in his locker while the students around him continue to steal glances at him and talk behind his back. This was not new to Jaune, with his senses heightened to a certain degree, he can hear many speculations about him and who he was talking to yesterday. Apparently, Blake left an impression on the student body, which was also not new to Jaune since she looked like she just walked out of a fashion magazine or just finished her shooting for some movie.

Huntsmen, at least regarding the ones that Jaune came across, had their own pull to them that seemed to let everyone know who they are at all time. Now, Jaune can assume that it was due to their aura being unlocked, but even then, aura was just a part of why some people always had their eyes on Huntsmen. From the weapons that no ordinary person can us or lift, what they wear that even some people would think is impractical to use when fighting Grimm, even their age can come in question when even the older Huntsmen can still look like there in their 20s when there much older.

' _Oh, and how rocking their bodies are too.'_

Yes, if it wasn't their aura, weapons, or clothes that got people's attention, then it was obviously for the looks all Huntsmen had. A good example was the four young all girls team Jaune had the honor of meeting thanks to the team leader being his friend.

If Blake's mysterious looks and her hourglass figure had the students talk about her the next days, then he was glad the rest of her team wasn't here or else they would be the talk of the school for **weeks**.

Weiss Schnee's snow white complexion, pristine hair, and frame almost made her look like a real-life doll that could make anyone be envious of her perfection. Heck, even with a scar on her face only makes her beauty even more eye catching in Jaune's opinion. Even then, he was sure that the only thing all the students in this school will mostly talk about is how her family is filthy rich rather then her looks, cause even if your the ugliest person alive if you had something everyone wanted then you'll know people will pay attention to you if they can have what they don't own.

Yang's devil may care attitude, vibrant blonde hair, and her confidence to show her body can make even the most veteran of guys in school feel like total newbs to the opposite sex. Not to mention, with the size of her confidence also matching with her cup size, Jaune was sure that most of the girls in Mid-town High would probably cry knowing the fact that they can't possibly match her in terms of physical appearance.

Now, Ruby on the other hand was the opposite of her older sister in terms of both personality and appearance. While Yang was outgoing and confident her baby sister was introverted and shy when meeting people and was only able to fully express herself when it involves weapons or heroes.

It might sound childish compared to the rest of the girls, but it just made Ruby seem more down to earth in comparison. Her dress with the colors of red and black somehow contrasted well with her innocent outlook in people making her seem more approachable. How she gets shy and easily flustered can make anyone her friend, that's how Jaune became her friend, at least, and even more so on how her dress fits tightly around her body giving her somewhat of a mature look even when she was the shortest, youngest, and cutest of the group.

' _Add the fact that her corset hugs her so nicely I can see her curves can easily make up for her height and-'_

Jaune slammed his locker loud enough for everyone who was walking nearby to stop midmotion and look at him in confusion and irritation.

"Sorry." He automatically said with his face showing no emotions of guilt at causing such a scene.

Placing the tumbler lock on his locker, Jaune walked to his class room where he saw his friend comb through whatever his scroll was showing him. Making his presence known, the young blonde moved his chair so he can sit down.

"Hi, Harry."

Looking up from his scroll, Harry placed his device on the table and greeted his friend.

"Morning, Jaune." He was about to say more when he stopped to see how Jaune was looking a bit off. "You ok, Jaune? You look more serious than usual, did Blake make an impression on you or something?"

"No, I just thought of something I really shouldn't have."

"Really? Does it involve Blake?"

' _Not Blake, but someone involved with her...'_

"Before we get into me talking with Blake. I want to talk to you about something else." Jaune glared at his friend. "Mainly, with how you ditched me and decided to buy food and leave me with the bill."

"To be fair." Harry lifted his index finger in the air. "I was hungry."

"…And?"

"And that's it." Harry shrugged his shoulders like it was that simple.

"Ok, have fun figuring out next week's pop quiz." Jaune was about to leave his chair to move to another vacant seat when Harry finally stopped joking around.

"Wait! Wait! Wait!" The rich teen waved his hands to stop Jaune from leaving. "Alright, being serious now. Gwen and I got tired of watching you two not talk to each other like a jaded married couple."

"Kind of bit pushing it with me and Blake acting like a married couple."

"Blake and _I_ ," He corrected him.

"Whatever. Continue, please." Jaune rolled his eyes.

"So, we thought that if we get something from the diner and leave the bill to you and her to pay, then you guys have no choice but to cooperate with splitting the bill."

The plan did sound ok, a bit crude and unpolished, but hypothetically it should have worked. Unfortunately for Gwen and Harry, they didn't know Blake well enough to think that she would walk out and leave Jaune to pay for their meal.

"Your plan sucked." Jaune was not afraid to tell his friend what he thought. "And also, Gwen should have remembered that my boss doesn't believe in an employee discount."

"Really? Huh, just like my dad." The young Osborn was surprised that someone else had the same mentality as his father. "So, Blake just dine and dashed?"

"More liked dashed, because she didn't order any food, just you guys."

"Wow," Harry was left wide eyed at how Blake left his friend to pay the bill. "What a jerk."

"You're the one who ordered food in the first place!"

"Meh, semantics."

"I expect a favor from you and Gwen." The blonde spider narrowed his eyes and jabbed his finger to Harry's chest slightly to show he was serious. "I know you guys were trying to help me with some cute girl,"

"Cute? Dude! If she enrolled in our school during freshmen year, I have no doubt she would be prom queen for four years straight! That's longer then any politician can hope to have!"

' _Well, I can't argue with that.'_

"But I can get a girl just fine, thank you very much." He crossed his arms over his chest. "So, I would appreciate it if you guys try not to play match maker with my dating life."

"You're kidding, right?" Harry gave Jaune a flat look. "You're more socially inept then me! Gwen even thought that you two would be perfect for each other."

About to argue more on the topic of the quiet Huntress, the secret hero stopped when he saw the teacher walk in the class room making both boys to hold off on their conversation. Though the talk about yesterday's beautiful visitor was on hold between friends, it didn't stop the rest of the class to whisper amongst each other.

"So, did you see the pictures from yesterday?"

"She was so hot!"

"Man, she was fine! You think she might be coming to school often?"

"I would have gotten her number, easily!"

"Wasn't she talking to only one guy?"

"Yeah, I think he was blonde or something… wait! I think he's the one right their next to Osborn Jr."

"The rich kid? Of course, she must be only hanging arguing them due to Osborn money. Gold-digger confirmed."

The rumors about the beautiful model from yesterday not only caused Jaune to be more known, it also painted him as the type of guy to ride the coat tails of his friend due to wealth. This didn't go unnoticed to his friend either, since the wealthy teen's positive attitude from earlier became lower and lower the longer he heard his classmates continue to bash him about his upbringing.

"You know," Harry whispered next to Jaune. "Maybe you should ask if Blake could be a little bit more discrete next time she decides to visit. I kind of like to have are non-existent rep in school to continue to be non-existent."

"You and me both." Jaune shook his head in wishful thinking. "Still, I feel like in we're 'gonna be in the spotlight a lot more now thanks to her."

' _Whether we like it or not.'_

Class after class, rumor after baseless rumor, whenever something out of the ordinary disrupts the natural order of high school life it was always leads to people to have their mind's form speculation to fill the void of their mundane life.

It couldn't be helped really, when someone such as a Huntress, especially one around their age, made quite the gossip for those who never seen a Huntsmen before. Sure, some have relatives who are Huntsmen that tell stories about how they fight monsters and help people, but stories can get distorted and change to make it sound more extravagant. Words can change to make stories more than it is or can water it down, but when you see an actual Huntsmen, especially the young and cute ones, then it can hold more weight.

And since mostly everyone took picture of Blake talking to a wallflower like Jaune, then the only way to know more was through him.

Sure, some gave off handed jokes about how she mistaken him as someone else or complements of how lucky he was to know someone as hot as her. Interesting news like this should be a welcome distraction from being a hero, as a matter-of-fact it was a perfect distraction. A secret spy mission that can end in disaster, conspiracy that goes beyond Dust theft… oh, and meeting a very sketchy Huntsman that tried to act friendly to him then immediately vomits afterwards made Jaune have a few negatives thoughts of being a secret hero. Which is why with so many rumors involving him made Jaune feel like an actual high school student that has been here since freshmen year then some outsider that ran away from home.

The feeling of normalcy, however, still felt hollow for the young Arc unfortunately.

A normal, under average boy that blends in the background of everyone's life, a mysterious woman appearing at some normal school, and out of the sea of everyday faces that same beautiful girl picks him out of everyone else in the crowd.

That scenario was something that came straight out of some animation and the people in this school who never experienced something like that finally saw it yesterday. If Jaune was any other person, then he would also feel that his dull life could finally see something come straight out of TV, too bad it wasn't some other person.

He was Spider-Man, the Amazing Spider-Man some people have come to title in the forums Jaune has read for the past couple of hours between classes. The fans, the gossip revolving around him, and even the breakout of his normalcy was some of the things he hoped to have at Beacon.

In the small recesses of his mind, Jaune knew that he was selfish, that one of the reasons he went to Beacon was to make a name for himself, to get the recognition just like most of his family did. Jaune has that now, only for it to be under someone else's name.

' _Too bad most of it is for Spider-Man.'_

Yes, people may talk about him being close to Blake, but if people dug deeper into the scene that played out between them then they would know the truth.

The beautiful and mysterious girl only talked to the average boy to pass a message to someone more important than him. Jaune did see the irony in the situation he was caught in, yet it didn't stop the feeling of hurt that the only time he was needed the most is when he was someone else.

But the aspiring hero knew that this was just one of many burdens he needs to carry if he wants to continue this line of work. To separate his business from his pleasure, never mix both or else it could lead to self-destruction, so he decided that he shouldn't be bothered by students talking behind his back. That he shouldn't be envious of his hero persona and just focus on being a simple student who got his five minutes of fame that soon turned to white noise as he continued to from class to class.

Thanks to the rumors circulating through the school, it left Jaune no choice, but to put all his focus on school work, including his ideas on how to fix or even replacing his spider suit. The choice drown out the constant drabble of teen drama that involved him went on for the young hero for some time that before he knew it the final bell signaled everyone that it was time to go home.

' _That was fast. Can't believe It's time to go home. I wasn't sure it was even possible to zone out for so long, hope I didn't miss anything important.'_

"Man, Jaune." Gwen smacked his back, pulled back her hand, and gave it a few shakes to get rid of the pain. "Ow! Anyway, I can't believe you ignored Flash's questions on how you knew Blake! He looked so pissed, I was sure he would have shoved you in your locker! Heck, we were in the middle of class and he still would have done it!"

"Yeah man!" Harry gave his friend a worried look. "I would be carful for a few days. If I know Flash, he's probably already thinking different ways to humiliate you tomorrow."

"Or maybe today!" Gwen added her own thoughts about the more muscular and popular Blonde. "I mean, a guy like him wouldn't sit down after he was ignored by a loser like Jaune. No offense."

' _Ok, maybe I did miss on some important things. Like making sure to have eyes in the back of my head in case Flash decides to pull something.'_

Hoping to change the subject, Jaune decided to ask how Gwen's day was. Typically, she tends to complain about her main job as a camp counselor and how she tried to maintain her sanity from the constant stress of looking after so many kids, but since her second job, Gwen hasn't been as anxious which is new for him and Harry to see.

"Meh, I'm actually surprised I haven't been fired yet."

"You know, it kind of is weird." Harry said honestly. "I mean, how many jobs have you been through already?"

"Too many to count." Jaune made a joke then high fived his friend. "On a serious note, I'm pretty sure I'm right either way."

"Yeah." She sighed depressingly. "Being a camp counselor wasn't even my last option, but luckily enough, Doctor Connors has been a great boss and hasn't fired me!"

"That's great, guess that means your when you go to college your major will be in science, right?" Jaune asked.

"Yup! Screw liberal arts! Working with Doctor Connors is so great, that if I play my cards right then I can kiss my dead-end job goodbye!"

Laughing at how his friend was exited to leave her first job, Jaune's Spidey sense instantly killed the mood and switched his instinct to get ready for danger nearby.

' _From behind me!? Here?! Now!? With my friends nearby?!'_

Going against his instinct to evade the danger, Jaune's selfless attitude made him shield his friends without hesitation from what he assumed to be life threating danger. Just as he used his body to protect his friends, he saw a sports car heading ever so closer to them. Muscles tensing and ready to burst like a pistol, when Jaune saw the side window roll down he was about to push his friends out of the way only for him to stop when he saw a very familiar blonde football player stick his head out. Seeing that it was someone familiar, the spider hero was left confused to why he sensed danger.

"Wait, Fla-"

 **(SPLASH)**

Only for his face to be drenched in water followed by several pelts of water balloons hitting his chest.

"Suck it, Jauney boy~~! Haah Ha!" Flash Thompson laughed, sticking his head out of his friend's car, holding a now empty bucket, his small posse of close friend also laughing at the now drenched nerd until they were no longer in sight.

' _Guess he really was petty enough to get back at me so soon.'_

"Dude," Harry started to sniff his friend to make sure what Flash thrown at him wasn't fermented liquid. "You ok, Jaune?"

Despite most of the students laughing at his dilemma, most also taking some pictures, the hero in secret just nodded his head to Harry as a sign that he wasn't affected by the public humiliation. Outside he seemed stoic and not fazed by Flash's action towards the fellow blonde, but on the contrary the act of being drowned from head to toe caused recent wounds to open, most notably a certain drunk from last night named: Qrow.

"It's fine." Jaune waved it off like it was no big deal.

"You sure?" The only female in the group asked in a concerned tone. "I doubt your clothes will instantly dry itself."

"Look," The only wealthy teen in the group of three pointed to his family driver waiting patiently at the end of the school's parking lot. "I'm sure you can hitch a ride with me, makes it less easy for classmates to laugh at you if they can't see you."

"Nah, thanks for the offer, but..." Jaune's sentence was cut off when a strong gust of wind pushed his hair back and his skin to shiver from the cold water that clung to his skin. Idea starting to take form in his head, the teen spider looked above to see the kingdom's tallest building as if they were the keys to solve his current predicament.

"I know a good place that can dry my clothes really quick."

"Hey, if you're giving out a free ride, then I'm game!" Gwen didn't give Harry time to answer as she grabbed his arm and dragged her to his limo. "See ya later, Jaune!"

"Bye!" Waving good bye, Jaune stayed in place for a little longer and watched his friends enter the expensive ride and drove away. Now alone, the hero let out a dejected sigh and looked at his dripping attire. "Man, glad I decided to shove my favorite hoodie in my backpack."

Checking his surroundings, the young student made his way to his usual path to home. Passing from street to street, he was half way to Aunt May's house when he stopped at some random alleyway.

Random to some people, but to Jaune this was the start of his growth of being who he was today. Walking deeper into the empty alleyway, Jaune looked at the same brick wall he crawled up on when he figured out what he became after the spider bite. Remembering the first time he ever climbed this wall, the young spider placed one hand on the wall, placed his other hand a little bit further, and started to climb.

Reaching to the top, the young hero placed his belongings on the ground, unzipped it, and pulled out his sleeveless hoodie.

' _Glad the water didn't reach my hoodie, or else this next part would be really weird for me.'_

Taking off the damp shirt, Jaune shivered as the wind touched his bare chest until he covered himself with his favorite hoodie.

"Much better!" He patted the logo of the pumpkin Pete's cereal mascot on the center of his hoodie. With the wet T-shirt still in hand, he twisted it like a towel and with the help of his super strength twisted it to let out all the water. "That should be enough, if I put too much power then the shirt will be ripped in half."

Unrolling the now semi-dry shirt to see that it was no longer dripping with water, Jaune folded the piece of clothing, placed it in his bag, and zipped it shut. Taking care of one less problem, the teen placed his pack securely on his back and looked ahead to see miles of tall building in front of him.

"Ok," He tightened his backpack to it won't shake widely from what he was about to do. "Time for me to dry myself now."

Muscles in his legs quickly tensed like a coil being pressed down and just like a coil when the pressure is released the spring jumps. Jaune's legs quickly propelled him in the air, his hair flapping in the wind, and as he landed to the next building he immediately started to run to start the process all over again.

Jaune didn't want to try his luck at web swinging, not when almost everyone in Vale expecting to see him as Spider-Man. To try to web swing while in his civilian attire will attract unneeded trouble for where he's about to go.

"Man, this feels so weird when I'm not wearing spandex." Jaune said as he jumped off the roof to a taller building in front of him. Using his power to cling to any surface, Jaune climbed to the top if the building and looked down to see how far the bottom was.

"I'm not too far now." Taking a few steps back, Jaune made a running start and when his feet touched the edge of the roof he put all his strength to jump to the building across from the street. The all glass windowed building was half the size of the one Jaune jumped off of, so when his feet touched the roof the young hero made sure to do a full body roll to break his fall.

Blood pumping to every part of his body, his adrenaline starting to kick in from the action of jumping from building to building. Jaune's body didn't showed any sign of getting tired as he continue to jump, climb and run from roof top to tall roof top when he finally slowed down as the location was in his sights.

"There it is, the good will store." He said while looking at the large all white building with the only noticeable trait it has was a signal sign saying, 'Good Will'. Patting himself down to make sure he didn't lose anything important. "And now that I'm dry, people won't stare at me and ask why my head was soaked."

"Now, then," Jaune checked his surroundings to look for a way down from the random roof he was standing on. "How am I supposed to get to street level without jumping off?"

* * *

Whenever someone who has amazing abilities that are out of this world, one of the many rules they must follow is to always make sure to hide who they are in case someone with ill intent decides to go after someone they know. Comics and movies have always shown that whenever the hero decides to reveal their secret identity it either falls to two categories.

One: The hero's secret identity is soon spread throughout the criminal underworld and must be ready whenever bad guys come after them. Not giving them a signal moment to relax before finally one villain was lucky enough to kill the hero who was too tired to put up a fight.

Two: Rather than attack to hero, since the villain has always been stopped by the hero, they rather go for the people who are close to them. Wife, husband, kids, parents, even close friends are all game for the bad guys to use to hurt the hero. Either kill them or use them as a bargaining chip to kill the hero, Villains will always use any tricks to make sure their archenemy hurts from knowing that it was their fault for revealing their identity.

No matter who was to blame for the events that unfolded in comics or in movies. It's common knowledge that the Hero will always have the guilt hang over their head knowing that if they ever let people know who they are behind the mask, people close to them will die.

"Ok," Entering the through the front door, the teen with the double life smelled the familiar scent of used clothing and other hand me downs invading his nostrils. "Let's see what my new suit will be."

That is why heroes wear costumes, to hide one's identity from normal people and from their enemies, but one thing that separated truth and fiction was that in the stories the hero's get suits that were flashy and made from some durable substances.

Jaune's spider suit however, was made from simple fabric he bought from the local good will. After all, Jaune wasn't made of money, so the only way for him to replace the one Qrow ruined was go to the place where he got his first costume made.

"Ok, what is good today!" He said like he was a little kid finding out what gift he got. "Something that I need for undercover work, maybe you?"

Picking up a long sleeved all black shirt from the bargain bin, Jaune double checked to see how much wear and tear it has.

"No, there's a too many holes for me to sew up and I'm not sure I have enough thread to fix this. That, also the fact that the only thread I do have are red and blue." Putting it back, Jaune dug deeper in the bin to try his luck again.

"How about you?" Grabbing another piece of clothing, in Jaune's hand was what appeared to be a green scuba suit with yellow vertical stripes going from head to toe. "To colorful, even for my taste!"

Going for broke on a third try, Jaune's hand showed that it was holding a jean vest with steel spikes on the shoulders and a giant rock and rolls hand sign on the back. "Too punk rock for me."

Shoving it back inside the random clothes bin, the spider hero continued to go through several articles of garments ranging from damaged, missing a part of it, and some provocative line of clothing that Jaune questioned if the staff even went through these in the first place.

Giving up on trying to find what he was looking for in this bin, he decided to comb through the rest of the store to see what he needs.

"If by chance I do find what I need and make a temporary suit, I'll also need dome film for my camera and not a lot of stores sells them and those that do are selling with a high price."

Passing by each aisle that showed a variety of used items, Jaune was about to think that he wasted his time being here when he saw something at the corner of his eye. Stopping mid-step, he turned his head to see a shelf that was selling some film for outdated cameras. Some of what they were selling was limited to a hand full of film, but with the price tag showing a low price that was within his spending budget he wasted to no time to walk to the shelf and reach for the film. Just when a single fingertip touched the camera film, a second hand appeared to his right that also tried to reach the same one causing both hands to accidentally touch.

"Ah!" The strangers hand reeled back first. "I'm sorry! I didn't know you were first, I'm sorry."

"It's ok!" Jaune looked at the person who was apologizing to him. She was around his age, with long brown hair, same colored eyes, and what she was wearing a dark-brown, long-sleeved jacket that comes down around her chest over a plain shirt, a simple pair of long brown shorts and long black form fitting leggings that come to just her hips. From her appearance alone, she seemed like your average teenage girl with average looks, but what really set her apart was the fact that she had a pair of rabbit ears on top of her head that were wilted to show she was nervous.

"I didn't notice anyone also reaching for this," Not wanting to feel bad for making this girl feel any worse, Jaune took the film they both tried to reach and handed it to her. "Here, it would be rude of me not to give this to you miss…?"

"Velvet, my name is Velvet Scarletina." The rabbit Faunus told Jaune her full name.

"Nice to meet you, Velvet! I'm Jaune Arc and it's nice to see someone who's also interested in photography."

Picking up at what the blonde boy said, Velvet's ears shot back up to its usual height and her usual shell of nervousness receded making her feel a little more relaxed.

"You also prefer to use actual cameras?"

"Oh yeah, I prefer to use the old-fashioned way of taking pictures then using my scroll." To show he was wasn't lying, Jaune pulled open the front pocket of his backpack to show the camera he uses to take photos of him as Spider-Man.

"Wow!" No longer feeling anxious, the female Faunus smiled in delight to know that someone else who shared her hobby. "That's a nice model you have, I have one with a built in flash that's a little more blinding, but yours seems so intact and well taken care of."

"Yeah, I always made sure to take care of this thing." He scratched the back of his head. "You don't see stuff like these being sold anywhere often and I never really like using a scroll to take photos."

"Right!" Her final wall being taken down, Velvet was more comfortable for Jaune to approach her. "Taking photos is kind of my hobby, but I love it when I use cameras to take pictures of what I like."

"Yeah, scrolls just can't seem to take pictures well like good old-fashioned cameras." The young blonde boy stated.

Now, that the awkward air was dispersed with the common ground that they both had something to share, the two began to make small talk about their photography and how well they take photos.

"You're a photographer for the Bugle!" Her eyes widened at how he was around her age and yet got a job of one of the most well-known newspaper company. "It must be so nice to work with Mr. Jameson, he's one of the most respected reporter in Vale!"

"Y-yeah sure, he's really great to work with." Jaune tried to put on a straight face. "Even my friends at work tell me how they always say nice things about him!"

' _They say things about him alright, right behind his back when he's not looking.'_

"Wow, it must be nice to work at a job you like!" Velvet looked down to her personal camera she had strapped around her neck. "Taking photos is my favorite hobby, but I always wondered what it would be like if I just went for a job like yours and not enroll into Beacon."

 _Beacon…_

Just hearing that school again made his mind go back to why he was here in the first place. From a certain cat Faunus asking for his help and why he needed to get a temporary suit after the fact his original was currently just a sack of bile and garbage.

' _Still, should have known she was part of Beacon, her looks might not compete with Ruby and her team, but she still looks like a super model. Again, this just proves my theory that almost everyone who enrolls into Beacon are practically super hot.'_

"You go to Beacon?" Jaune hid his feeling about the school by concealing it with excitement. "You must love training to be a Huntress!"

Soon after he said that, her features reverted to being shy and nervous, making Jaune feel like he just said something that might have upset her. Seeing his reaction to her sudden change in mood, Velvet quickly changed back to her normal self and shook her head to the fellow photo enthusiast.

"D-don't worry, I was just thinking about my professor's homework I forgot to finish is all." She explained to Jaune. "You see, even if we're training to protect Vale and the other kingdoms, we're still teens and it is a school that teaches education that doesn't have to involve fighting Grimm."

"Yeah, I sometimes forget that." He scratched his reddening cheek, thoughts of Ruby as a regular student made him forget all about the fact that she was also a Huntress-in-training. "It must suck trying to juggle between basic math and studying how Grimm work in the wild."

"Try? Me and my team can barely have enough free time when our teachers keep assigning us homework and missions that it was a miracle to find time to be here."

"Missions?" That made Jaune stop his train of thought when he heard that students go out on missions. "Students can go do actual missions even though you guys aren't full-fledged Huntsmen?"

"Not exactly, we get one of the staff to take charge of us and they grade us on our performance. It's more like a glorified driving test, just take out the driving with Grimm and you'll kind of get the concept."

"I haven't taken my driver's test yet, but I doubt it'll be that stressful compared to what you have to go through." He was about to say more, when he realized that due to them getting lost in their personal conversation their bodies instinctively walked to the front where they were about to reach for the cashier. "Dang it, I forgot to grab film for my camera."

"But, your camera only takes this specific film and the ones left on the shelf aren't compatible."

"Then I guess I wasted my time here after all." Releasing a long sigh, Jaune decided to look back at where they originally met and started to walk. "I'm going to go check to make sure."

"Wait," Grabbing his shoulder, Velvet looked at the single roll of film in her hand before handing it to Jaune. "Taking pictures is my hobby, but you take pictures for a living and I would hate to make it harder for you to find more."

"Are you sure?" He asked.

"I'm positive!" She gave him a small smile to show she held no grudges towards him. "I'm sure I can find more somewhere else, maybe by chance I might see you here again too."

"Thanks, Velvet, I really appreciate it." Going back to the cashier, the blonde spider paid for the film and walked out with the brow haired girl.

"No thanks are needed." She said while stopping in front of the building. "I came with a friend and she's just down by a few stores over. So, I guess this is where we part ways."

"Thanks again, Velvet." Jane waved good bye and walked to his Aunt's house. "If we do see each other let's compare pictures, I would love to see what you've taken at Beacon!"

With a final wave both teens went their separate ways, the young blonde quickly turned to a nearby alley that leads to a dead end. Not sensing anyone that was observing him, Jaune wall crawled all the way up to the roof and proceeded to go back home.

* * *

The roof hopping didn't take long for the young hero to arrive back home, the only challenge was just to get back down without having to use webs to do so. Thankfully enough, the door that leads inside the tall structure was unlocked giving him easy access to use the stairs that lead him to the first floor and outside to finally walk on foot to his Aunt's house.

"Aunt May! I'm home!" Jaune shouted to signal his arrival. "Sorry I took so long, I had to get some more film for my camera."

"Jaune?" He heard her voice coming from the living room. "Perfect timing, dear! Can you please come over here? I need your assistance with something."

"Ok, Aunt May." Setting his bag to the corner of the front door, Jaune walked to the living room where he saw his aunt going through a large card board box that had written word labeled 'Halloween'. "Is it really this soon to put decorations for Halloween?"

"Well, we're just about near fall, so I thought checking to make sure we have these ready would be easier for when we decorate the house." Aunt May then pulled out a big plastic bowl that had an electronic hand that started to move when she flipped the switch located at the bottom of the bowl.

"So, you just need me to help you check if some of these works?"

"No, I already checked and there all in good condition." Closing the box back up, the faded blonde-haired woman struggled to lift the heavy box, but when Jaune saw how much strain it was putting her with he quickly took it from her. "Thank you, dear. The box was so heavy for me that I simply used the steps to the attic as a slide to push the box down here. If you can, please put this back to the attic, but make sure to leave it close to the stairs, so it would be easier to find later."

"Ok, Aunt May." Taking to box to the upstairs storage, Jaune stopped when Aunt May shouted for him to stop.

"I almost forgot to tell you, but when I was upstairs the light bulb for the attic died out and we don't have any more lightbulbs to replace it. When you're done, can you also run to the store to buy more, please?"

"I'll do that when I put these away Aunt May."

"Be careful not to trip, it's really dark up there." Aunt May said in concern.

"I'll be fine, Aunt May, trust me." He reassured her. _'Thanks to a little something called: Night vision'_

Walking upstairs, the young spider walked to the end of the hall where he saw a single piece of rope dangling from the ceiling. Pulling it down, the attic stairs dropped down along with a few dust particles making the hero cover his mouth so some of it won't get in his lungs. After the dust settled, Jaune placed the box on his back and thanks to his body being able to attach himself to any surface the box full of decorations stayed securely on his back as he proceeded to enter the attic.

The upstairs storage was not as messy or as cluttered when he compared it to his own home back in Ansel, though when you compare a house that's owned by a couple to a family holding over eight children the difference between them was like night and day.

Boxes neatly stacked and labeled to each month of what they held, shelves full of dusty books, and some human shaped figures covered by what Jaune can only assume are thin sheets were all neatly organized and moved close to the walls for more rooms to walk around.

Putting the box near the entrance like Aunt May said, Jaune opened the box of Halloween trinkets and pulled out a toy jack-o-lantern out of curiosity. Though the light from below did help illuminate the dark room in a decent range his night vision helped him look over the small pumpkin to see if it had anything interesting about it.

"Wonder what you do?" Seeing a small switch at the bottom, he flipped to the 'on' side and was greeted by a creepy laugh emanating from the lantern. "WAAAH!"

Dropping it out of surprise, the laughing pumpkin toy bounced a few times and then rolled under one of the sheet covering something.

"Stupid thing!" He hissed, even though he stared at the end of countless guns and even bladed weapons, a small toy pumpkin was the one that made him clutch his chest to control his breathing.

Not wanting to be lazy and just leave it where it landed, Jaune walked to where he saw the toy roll under, crouched down, reached under the thin cloth, and was able to grab the laughing pumpkin.

"Can't believe you made me scared." He laughed to himself as he turned off the pumpkin. "Now, to put you back to where you came from."

Standing back up, when he walked back to the box of Halloween decorations, he didn't notice that the cloth covering the tall item was under his shoe. When he took a step, his foot dragged it causing the large cloth to pull whatever it was covering to fall.

Spider sense kicking in, Jaune pivoted around in time to lift his hands up to catch whatever was falling on him. He expected to see a clothes rack or a lamp, but when the thin sheet covering was finally off all he saw was a black human shaped figure with glowing eyes.

"AAAH!" Caught again by the sudden surprise, Jaune caught it in his hands, but due to how scared he was he lost his footing and his entire body slammed to the floor.

"JAUNE!" Shouted a scared Aunt May frantically walking up to the attic with her scroll's built in flashlight turned on. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah," He groaned as he pushed the mannequin away from himself. "Just surprised is all.

' _My spider sense told me of danger about to befall me, but I guess it didn't register if what was falling on me was anything too dangerous.'_

"Oh?" Stepping closer to what fell on Jaune, Aunt May pointed her flashlight to get a better look at what made Jaune scream. "Now, I haven't seen this in a long time."

After the initial scare was over, Jaune took a second glance at what made him scream like a little girl.

What fell on him was indeed a mannequin, but what it was wearing made Jaune tilt his head in confusion.

"What is that, Aunt May?" He asked her.

"This, Jaune," Aunt May peeled off the aviator goggles from the mannequin's head. "Is what Ben was wearing when he was part of the military."

"Uncle Ben?" Hearing about the man that helped back on his feet made Jaune instantly more interested to know more about Uncle Ben's life. "I didn't know he was part of the military."

"Oh yes, Ben joined the military as an aviator." Aunt May's voice was full of nostalgia as she recalled the stories she heard from her late husband. "The stories I heard him tell me as he flew in the open sky and beyond the walls of the kingdom."

"Wasn't he afraid that the Grimm might attack him?"

"He was very afraid," Her voice of nostalgia soon turned into fits of giggling. "I remember he told me one time that when he was flying he saw a giant nevermore fly right next to him. Luckily, he was able to escape from it, but when he returned back to base his CO had to make him clean his cockpit since he wet himself!"

Her giggling soon turned to full blown laughing making Jaune to also laugh alongside her.

"I can't believe I forgot he kept this here all this time," Rubbing the aviator goggles with her thumb, the widow placed them back on the mannequin and placed it back up. "Well, it was nice going back to memory lane, but what's more important was that nothing bad happened to you."

"Thanks, Aunt May," Looking back at the military garments, Jaune couldn't help but wonder why it was all black. "But, why is it all black?"

"Oh, that's just because he worked under stealth operated missions and if there was a chance that he crashed and survived it would be easier for him to blend into the darkness." She explained.

"How does it fair well if a Faunus spotted him?" He asked specifically.

"Well, I think it was able to-" She was unable to answer the question when the egg timer in the kitchen signaled her that her cooking was complete. "Oh! I almost forgot I left the brisket in the oven! Jaune, make sure you place the cover back on Ben's uniform and wash your hands, we're having brisket for dinner."

"What about buying new light bulbs?" Jaune asked.

"After, dinner. Now, wash up and I'll finish making dinner."

Leaving her tenant to finish the task, Jaune did as he was told and placed the white sheet over the black suit and walked back down to clean himself up to enjoy another dinner with his Aunt.

* * *

"New suit, new suit, what do I need with a new suit?" The hero muttered as he was scribbling new ideas on his notebook on top of his study desk.

It was in the middle of the night, a lone lamp illuminating Jaune's room as he struggled to design a new costume for him to use. So far, the concepts he was writing was ranging from colors of black, black, and blacker designs that aren't clicking well on paper.

Placing down his pencil, Jaune pushed his chair back to get away from his desk to get some time to think.

"Come on, this shouldn't be harder compared to my original spider suit." He groaned. "I mean, how hard is it for me to make a costume when it's all black?"

' _I literally have just a two days before I have to meet Blake as Spider-Man and not just Spider-Man wearing my normal costume, but as one that's ready to sneak inside a heavily armed White Fang den.'_

"A suit that's stealthy, already made, and doesn't require me to spend too much Lien for repairs." Jaune spoke out loud the three major parts that is required for his new suit design. The only thing I had to spend on my spider suit was the red jumpsuit and mask, the hoodie was just a spare I had that I can easily replace, but I don't have enough material to come up with a new one in such a short time."

Running his hands through his hair, Jaune leaned back in his chair and stared up at his ceiling as if it held the answer.

"The deadline is really killing my imagination right now, but If I try to clean my suit as best as I could that still wouldn't take for the account that some of the Faunus in the fang have keen noses."

' _Yeah, like I'm able to clean it. The smell is too strong and the damage to it is so severe that I'm not sure if it's more financially suitable if I just take the important parts of my suit with the one I'm making now.'_

Thinking that his creativity has hit a wall, Jaune just stared at the was while twiddling his pencil between his fingers.

"Suit, suit, suit, what will my next suit be?" He asked himself. "Tell me! Oh, magical pencil! What will you show me!"

At still point, due to the pressure of making a new suit, the Fang gather in less than a day, and the lack of sleep was making Jaune a little bit delirious. His delusions were short though and his mind went back on track to figuring out what his suit will be and how long it'll take before he meets Blake as Spider-Man.

Switching from flipping the pencil between his finger to tossing it into the air, Jaune put a little bit too much on throwing it that the tip of the pencil imbedded itself into his ceiling.

"Oh cr-woah!" Leaning too much on his chair, Jaune almost fell out of it but was able to catch himself due to one of his spider abilities of having perfect equilibrium. "Not Good!"

 **(TWIP)**

Shooting a web line to the pencil, he yanked it out and what was noticeable after he pulled down the pencil was a small hole.

"Not too bad, but if I really tried to throw it I have no doubt that the pencil would have gone all the way to the attic-"

' _Attic…? The attic!'_

"Thank you, magical pencil!" Getting out of his chair, the young spider opened his door, silently walked to where the stairs leading to the attic was and pulled the rope down while also taking glances back to his Aunt's room in case she might wake up.

Seeing that she hasn't opened her door, he saw this as a sign to keep moving. Lifting one foot, Jaune placed it on the wooden step followed by his other foot landing on the step above the first one.

All the while, he made sure to turn his head for signs that Aunt May might wake up any second until he finally reached the attic. With the help of his night vision, Jaune was able to locate the same covered mannequin that fell on him this afternoon, pulled down the sheet, and saw the same bright goggles staring at him only this time he wasn't caught off guard.

"I'm sorry, Uncle Ben." He apologized as if the lifeless plastic statue was his Uncle Ben himself. "But, I'm gonna need your help again."

Removing the uniform, Jaune silently walked back down, gently pushed the attic door shut, and walked back in his room to start working on his new spider suit.

Checking over what he must make out of his new costume, Uncle Ben's uniform consisted of a pair of black trousers, blouse, and aviator goggles.

"Ok," Picking up the goggles, Jaune flipped them to where he was seeing through them. "Wait until they see this."

* * *

It was never easy for Blake to admit that she was wrong, especially when other people see her mistakes and keep reminding her about it. She was always head strong and never budges from her views and morality, things like the White Fang, Faunus, Human, and recent news revolving around Spider-Man are just a few things that define her as such things.

Blake admits that she can get out of hand when it involves something that's important to her. She can also admit that she needs to slow down to think straight, and even admits that she needs to consider other people's feeling when there concerned for her wellbeing. She admits to all her faults and she's sorry if she gets too forceful, angry, antisocial, and even rude due to her being unable to control her emotions, but with problems like her past coming back she doesn't have time to fix them right now.

Of course, her friends and teachers are noticing her decline in rest and activity in class, but it was because that her old group that was once a staple for Faunus rights now turned terrorist organization was part of the reason why she barely rest at all.

Sure, she was thankful for her friends for helping her fight Roman at the docks and getting past the fact that she was part of the White Fang. But, her cynical side knew that her team alone wasn't enough to stop a well-known crime lord and Adam.

Just by fighting Roman herself she was certain he was just toying with her and not just her, but Sun too who also tried his luck in fighting the crime boss and failing just like her. All their training, semblance, and weapons wasn't enough against his own skills and experience, making her feel completely useless.

Her belief that she needed to help the White Fang go back to who they once were, that she can talk them out of it, that she didn't need to drag her friends down with her burden, all these shattered in front of her eyes as her fears became true.

To have power yet feel completely powerless to do something, was one of the reasons she left home and joined the Fang in the first place. It was in her arrogance that she thought that if things needed to change then you needed to act to further increase said action that made her see that maybe it wasn't always the right way. How she didn't see the Fang, to see Adam change was because those changes were necessary for the Faunus to finally be heard and get the rights they deserve.

That's what she kept thinking to herself every time when the plans Adam makes became darker and darker as time progressed, making her now see the error in her ways. Maybe it is arrogant to think that she could have stopped Adam from changing if she spotted it earlier, but no matter what, she knew the truth and she just ignored all the problems just because she didn't want to admit she was wrong.

She's sorry to her parents, for her friends, and above all else she's sorry for all her promises she's made to everyone but are sadly broken. One recent promise she made was to always tell her friends when she's about to do something dangerous like this, but instead of telling them, she told someone else.

"So, this is where we're supposed to meet our other friend?" Sun asked in a curious tone. "In some creepy back street? Not really giving me a vote of confidence on your friend, Blake."

Blake cared for her team, after knowing them in Beacon she came to think of them as a second family and proof that it's possible to make peace with humans. After all, she can stay in the room with a Schnee for crying out loud, so it isn't too farfetched to not consider it a possibility that both races can live happily.

"Don't worry, he's going to be here." She reassures her temporary partner in crime. "Jaune made sure to give him this location."

"Jaune?" Sun was trying to remember if he knew anyone from that name. "Oh! You mean the guy that knew Spider-"

Before he could finish that sentence, Blake covered his mouth with her hand to stop him from talking.

"Shh! Your too loud!" Blake said. "Do you want everyone to know that important information? We don't want Jaune to have a target on his back due to you unable to keep your mouth quiet!"

"Sorry." Sun apologized.

"I-It's fine." She let out a sigh. "Just be careful, ok?"

"Yeah," Sun's mood went back to his usual cheery self after he was forgiven by Blake. "You know, you're a lot more forgiving, Blake. And your eyes don't have the usual bags under them, finally took your friends advice and took a rest?"

"I did take a rest," She remembered how even Jaune could see that her unrest was affecting her making the cat Faunus realize that sleep was the best option before going to the recruit drive tonight. "It just took me longer to realize that my friends were right about me needing sleep."

"Glad to finally see your taking your friend's advice rather then ignoring them." A third voice was added into their conversation, making the two trained Huntsmen to put their guard up.

Since both are Faunus they were able to see much clearly, I the dark making it harder for almost anyone to try and use the darkness to their advantage. Having their backs to each other they thought it was going to be easy to spot whoever spoke, but what they saw was just the same dark alley with no one visible in sight.

"What are you guys looking at?" The voice whispered in their ear making Sun and Blake to jump away from each other and turn to whoever was able to get past their small perimeter.

Blake thought that it was Spider-Man doing his usual antics, she read through many eye witness accounts that Spider-Man tends to crack jokes while fighting criminals and was doing the same thing with her.

What she didn't know, was what Spider-Man was wearing.

The young Huntress expected to see him in his usual red and blue costume that almost everyone knows him wearing, but what she was looking was completely different from the usual costume Spider-Man wears. Hanging upside down by a spider thread, Blake saw that his costume didn't have the usual red jumpsuit and ripped blue hoodie. Instead, what she saw Spider-Man wear was black durable trousers, combat boots, a long-sleeved sweater, leather button up vest, and most notably the only thing that can be seen was the large bright lenses staring right at her.

"Spider-Man?" She asked, quite intimidated by his appearance.

"One in the same." He let go of his web and landed on his feet, now in full height his appearance matching with how tall he was made it even more freighting. "Like Jaune told you before, I had to look through my closet _and_ my attic to find this suit."

"Wow," Sun finally spoke "Nice suit, dude!"

Getting a better look at Spider-Man's suit, Sun took out his scroll and turned on his flashlight to see the full detail of Spider-Man stealth suit.

"Badass!" He said while circling the web head. "You even have the Spider logo on the back of your vest!"

"Yeah," The wall crawler's only sign of embarrassment was the tone of his voice when Sun pointed at the hero's signature logo. "It took a while to have that baby sewn on the vest, but it was worth it."

"Glad you could make it Spider-Man," Her cool, calm appearance she had on her face was betrayed by the relief in her voice that Spider-Man made it in time. "The entrance isn't too far, so if you just tail us from a distance you can sneak in when you see us enter the recruitment drive."

"I see you brought Sun than Ruby and the rest of your team." Spider-Man nodded his head to Sun. "I know I shouldn't talk about having friends help since I usually do stuff like this alone, so instead I'll just say this."

Walking past Blake, Spider-Man looked back at the two young teens and spoke in his rare moments of being serious.

"Be careful. We're here to find out what Roman has here and stopping them from taking more innocent lives into the life of crime. If they spot you, don't fight. Run, understood?"

"Y-yes." Blake agreed.

"Don't worry," Sun gave the hero a thumb's up. "We won't screw this up!"

"Good, now that we're all in agreement," Spider-Man lifted his arm ad shot a web line to a nearby rooftop, pulled it, and was soon airborne. "Let's go!"

* * *

 **WOOOOOO! Finally, this chapter is done and once again tit was a long one to finish. I didn't know if I had time to complete this, but I'm glad either way that all of you were patient with me again for the long wait. I'm sure all of you are asking questions on Jaune's new suit and Velvet now also appearing in the story, so I'm gonna try and answer as much as I can in this A/N to the best of my ability.**

 **So, for Jaune's suit I already had it played out in my mind that he was going to need one to be stealthier when he's trying to sneak in to Roman's hide out. Using Qrow as a way for Spider-Man to leave his original suit was a way to do so, it was also for him to be added since I hinted he was following Spider-Man since Ozpin messaged him after the whole Docks chapter.**

 **The suit was originated by Spider-Noir and if you guys don't know who he is you should totally read his comics their gritting, brutal, and is in the time during the great depression. I tried to know more about what Spider-Noir suit was, but all I usually get was the aviator goggles was when Ben was part of the military, so I added that part into the story to explain why it was in the attic.**

 **Velvet was also in this chapter since I wanted to add more RWBY characters into the mix without the use of using big plot points such as the docks or the breach. Since we barely see team CVFY outside of Beacon I thought it would make them more character developed if Jaune saw them outside of their Huntsmen appearance and dressed up as normal civilians.**

 **And speaking about character development, Blake was a mean girl during Vol.2 with the whole White Fang and was not very liked with viewers. That's why I thought I would try my hand into humanizing her or make people sympathize with her due to her upbringing and internal struggles with past. Yes, I know she asked Sun for help rather than her team, but at least she asked Sun then the blonde money Faunus stalking her till she finally agreed for him to help her. So, you know, progress.**

 **We all know that the real characters in the show have their flaws, heck most of you might say you don't like how I portray Blake and other RWBY characters, but you guys can't argue that the canon version are any better! I'm just trying my best to describe how a young Huntress acts in a school that teaches them to fight monsters. Weiss is a rich snob and we all expect that from an heiress that was born with a silver spoon and Ruby is easy to portray since she's just like Jaune, so therefore she is considered as BEST GIRL no matter how many people tell me she isn't. The way I portray Blake and Yang is what I usual see in teen drama's and in anime, Blake being hard headed and sometimes doesn't register other peoples feelings until its too late and Yang for being brutally honest with everyone and also thinking about the well fair for her sister.**

 **Characters can't always be nice and supporting, that would make the entire team one dimensional and have no personality, not to mention you can't expect real people to be nice too. Besides, it's their thoughts and opinions and it would not be them if they decided to give up who they are and change for the sake of other people wanting them to be something else.**

 **The chapter took a while, but for reasons besides me wanting to try my hand into longer chapters, I also had to make plans to leave to a different place. I might not make another chapter due to how long I must travel, so I hope you guys can wait more patiently as I try to get ready moving into my new home and settling in a new environment.**

 **Like always, I like to thank my Beta Reader for the help and you should all like, Fav, and follow his own stories. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and I also hope you like this Omake.**

* * *

 **Omake: The Pizza Part 2**

* * *

"Ok, I repeat my question: WHO!?" Jaune Arc, normal nerd by day, hero by night, and currently a pizza delivery guy said to the crazy masked gunmen whose pistol was still aimed at the blonde's forehead.

Ignoring the blonde nerd's question, the gunman glared at his target while also explaining why he was hired.

"Let me refresh your memory." Using his free hand, the masked killer pulled out a small notebook labeled 'Diary/ kill list' and spoke what was written on the paper.

"Do you happen to know a Meghan Orflosky?" He asked.

"N-no!? Am I supposed too?" Jaune asked, even more confused as to why he asked.

"Orflosky? Orlovsky? Yeah? Good. Because she knows you. Jeremy,"

' _Is he ignoring me on purpose?!'_

"I belong to a group of guys who take a dime to beat a fella down." Putting the notebook back to wherever he pulled it out from, his hand held a gold card and tossed it to the target with said target catching it without breaking contact with the crazy killer. If he was surprised by how quick the pizza geeks' reflexes were, his mask was able to hide his facial features, and the killer continued to talk about why he was here for Jaune. "And little Meghan, she's not made of money, but lucky for her... I got a soft spot."

Moving his eyes away from the gun, jaune looked at the gold card with the name of the intended target and was going to testify that this wasn't him when the man holding the gun started to talk again.

"But, I'm a…"

"A stalker. Threats hurt, Jer. Though not nearly as badly as serrated steel. So, keep away from Meghan. Cool?"

"Wait, so you're just threatening me to stay away from her?" Jaune asked, now even more confused at all this information being thrown at him.

"Well, yes!" He put his gun in his holster. "We're done."

"We are?"

"Yeah. We're totally done." He started to laugh making the man who owns the house to laugh nervously. "You should've seen your face."

"I didn't know what to do." The older man was on the brink if crying while also trying to stop laughing. "I was so scared."

The laughing continued for a bit making the young teen a bit nervous about what might happen next.

Jaune didn't have to wait long however, when the hired hitman pulled out his katana and pointed it directly at Jaune's forehead.

"That was my first mission from Meghan," His tone became cold and deadly, no longer holding the same wacky voice from earlier. "Until she texted me the threat you were about to tell at school if she didn't go out with you."

"Uh?" Giving up on words, Jaune just slouched his shoulders and just grunted simply used noise to convey his question.

"A rumor you were about to spread would have ruined not just her high school reputation, but even into adulthood! Heck, it was so heinous that I'm positive her life will be nothing by agony and regret!"

"I'm sorry to interrupt….. **But what was the rumor?** "

"It was that she… c'mere."

Walking close to the hitman, he whispered the rumor close to his ear and soon as the masked man finished the older civilian looked at Jaune like he was the scum of Remnant.

"Dude! You're a **#$%?%? & #$%?%?&!**"

'Escuse me? I didn't even hear what insult you named me? All I heard was **#$%?%? & #$%?%?&!**... Hold up, I can't even say it in my own mind!?'

"But don't worry," taking the blade away from Jaune, the mad swordsman raised his sword high in the air and was going to end the teen's life in a single strike. "She's about to get over it."

'Danger! Got to move!'

Finally reacting to his spider sense, Jaune dodged the blade, tackled the owner of the house to the ground, and was about to tell the helpless citizen to call the police when his spider sense told him to move.

 **(CRASH)**

With no warning what so ever, the front window suddenly shattered due to a fast object heading straight for Jaune.

 **(THUNK)**

Dodging just in the nick of time, Jaune was able to dodge an arrow that was aimed for his head and imbedded itself on the floor. After the first arrow missed its mark, several more arrows were fired and was aimed at the crazy masked killer.

The first to reach the red masked swordsman impaled itself in his left arm.

"Ow."

Second arrow pierced his stomach.

"Ouch."

Third and fourth arrow hit both of his legs.

"Ow! My adventuring career is ruined!"

And the final arrow hit the crazy gunman's chest dead center.

"Ohh… Shot through the heart~! Blegh!" After singing a single verse the hitman laid on his back dead and leaving both Jaune and the only adult in the house to look in horror at what happened in front of his eyes.

' _Wait, no, my spider sense is still tingling! Whoever fired those arrows is close to the house.'_

 ** _(Ding Dong)_**

"Hello~ You still alive Deadpool?" A voice coming from the front door asked, the doorbell being continuously pressed by whoever was asking if the man he killed was alive.

Taking the silence as his answer, the new stranger kicked the door open to let himself in the house.

"Ding~ Dong!" The new guest said, his smile only getting wider when he saw his target dead on the floor. Walking as if he owned the place, the man dressed up in medial purple light armor kicked the lifeless body with no reaction. To add more insult to the dead man, the archer notched another arrow in his bow, took aim, and fired at the same spot at the chest.

"Heh, hah, ha, ha, ha, ha!" Finally losing his cool, the young hero couldn't help but laugh at the situation he was in. "Ha! Ha, Heh, Ha, Ha!"

"Oh?" The man where a purple mask with the only thing visible was his eyes and mouth turned his attention to the laughing teen. "Think this is funny, kid? Cause if so, then you got a good humor just like me!"

Laughing alongside the kid, both stared at each other for a moment, looked at the still bleeding body, and soon their laugh became louder. This went on for a several seconds before the man who killed the hitman stopped laughing and drew his bow at Jaune.

"Too bad you and the old guy have to die too."

"Ha, heh, ha, woo!" Getting back up from the floor, Jaune took deep breaths to stop himself from laughing to hard. "Ok, ok, I'm good, I stopped."

"Good, now di-"

"Before you do that, Sir." Jaune raised his hand to stop the archer from releasing the arrow. "I just have one question."

The archer thought for a moment about Jaune request, taking just moment of thinking the killer with the bow lowered his weapon and nodded his head.

"Sure, it's your last request, and who am I to stop a dead man from saying his last words."

"Thank you, kind sir." Giving him a nod of appreciation, Jaune smile face soon morphed into one of confusion, insanity, and desperation as he spoke his thoughts that was fighting to get out after he just saw the man dressed as an archer kill a man that was hired to kill some other man who was mistaken for Jaune.

"WHO THE **#$%?%? & #$%?%?&! ARE YOU!"**


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20 Back Stage Battle**

* * *

Let's shift the tale from Spider-Man for now, go back a few days before Spider-Man met Blake and Sun, and focus on a group of people that aren't involved in the hero's crazy web of life, not yet at least. These aren't your typical people, no, they are a small group that not even the Council knows about. This group has been in Vale protecting an important secret from not just the Council, but from their long time enemy too. It's not just Vale that's concealing dark secrets, but each kingdom is holding their own secret too, one such Kingdom decides to visit Vale, a specific part known as: Beacon academy.

That Kingdom was known as Atlas, a technologically advanced kingdom said to be far superior in military might and scientific knowledge above all else. Said kingdom was also known to flex their military might, so what better way to know they were visiting then a massive fleet right in front of Vale's most prestigious school for Huntsmen?

And who would be so paranoid as to bring so much fire power to a school to train heavily armed teens with amazing abilities? Why, a headmaster and a General of Atlas military, that's who! Yes, General Ironwood, Headmaster of Atlas's own Academy to train future Huntsmen and a longtime military officer would be the one to brazenly bring such fire power all in the name of 'safety'.

Of course, there is a reason as to why he would go to such lengths, the Vytal Festival is almost near, security is a must to keep unwanted guests out, dust is also very much needed recourse Vale needs from Atlas, all of this was factored, and all of this is true.

But, that was to keep public appearance, to show peace was still present, all the while two headmasters, two 'friends', are in a large clocktower office discussing more than just preparations for the festival.

And that is regarding the threat lingering just outside of Vale's walls and the so called 'heroes' that are inhabiting their respective kingdoms.

"And that's what Qrow told me when he encountered Spider-Man." Ozpin informed James Ironwood. "So far, he hasn't seen Spider-Man after that encounter, I assume he must be weighing the options for the invitation we gave him, yet Spider-Man has not shown an effort to track down Qrow to give his answer."

"I see," The general of Atlas military sipped the coffee mug that was given to him by Ozpin. After the first sip of the warm liquid, James pulled out a flask from his officer's coat, poured some into the mug, and proceeded to take a long drink from the mug. "I suppose I shouldn't doubt Qrow's tracking skills, but I still don't like that you would so hastily try to recruit some stranger, a stranger I might add we have no idea about except that he wears a silly costume and goes by the name of 'Spider-Man', to be part of our group.

"Oh?" Putting down his own cup of steaming coffee, the headmaster of Beacon picked up a tablet off his desk, turned it on, and handed it to the Headmaster of Atlas with a digital newspaper showing a picture of a flying metal man saving a village that was being held hostage by the White Fang. "Do you really think Spider-Man's the only one getting so much attention?"

"I keep forgetting that Atlas weekly is also trying to match the Daily Bugle with their own 'Hero/ Villain' to publicize." The man with a single white glove spoke then took another long drink from his half empty mug.

"Can you blame them?" Ozpin sounded amused, taking the tablet back, the speckled headmaster swiped away the images of Iron Man with pictures of Spider-Man. The headmaster of Beacon took a sip from his mug and spoke in his usual monotone voice. "First a man dressed as a bug starts to swing around Vale, stopping crime and helping people with their everyday problems. Now, we have a metal flying man saving villages with technology not even Atlas could ever produce. Though, I'm sure by now your tech division is trying there hardest to make their own I assume?"

Yes, Atlas may be the leading Kingdom in developing machines that can do amazing feats, but what Iron Man showed was leagues above what even the most well-known scientist can make. To know someone has made such a marvelous machine that Atlas didn't make or own not only made it a top commodity for anyone trying to own this rare suit, but it also made the science division take it a personal challenge to try and make their own suit that far exceeded Iron Man's. The problem was, they've made countless prototypes, but each one was never capable to move and react as fluid as Iron Man's armor leaving Atlas's top scientist stumped. Of course, the rest of the Atlas military had their own answer to having their own flight suit and that's by capturing Iron Man. Not just that, but it was in their best interest to make sure Atlas were the first to capture Iron Man before any other foreign groups decides to try their luck in apprehending the metal man before they did.

"This isn't a matter to be taken lightly, Ozpin." Ignoring his friend's question, The General went back to the topic at hand. "The Council is seeing Vale in a bad light since no one is able to catch or even uncover whose Spider-Man is under that mask. Almost half of the board are even considering putting more attention on the Faunus that have insect qualities."

"That would be problematic," The grey-haired Huntsman turned around to look outside. "And just when things were starting to have a bit of actual peace too. Spider-Man, be it human or Faunus under that mask, has made great strides to make this kingdom be safer, to threaten that with such strict rules would make it worse than better."

"That, I agree." General Ironwood was about to take another sip only for him to realize he drank it all. "But, it doesn't excuse the fact that Spider-Man is a vigilante and is also going against the law. We have rules that keep people from taking the law into their own hands and with Spider-Man doing the work Police and Huntsman are trained to do could start trouble. If this goes on any longer than regular people will start having ideas that they can do the same thing without consequences, not just civilians, but young, idealistic, not fully trained Huntsmen."

"It still confuses me that they put so much focus on a man wearing what appears to be a red and blue jumpsuit then someone smart enough to build their own weaponized flying suit of armor." Ozpin poked holes in the Council's logic. "After all, it would be wiser to apprehend the person capable of making a suit of mass destruction then wasting the Kingdom's tax lien on someone who just shoots webs and sticks to walls."

"They believe that capturing Spider-Man will make people stop having dreams of grandeur. Iron Man is clearly a prime example of how Spider-Man is making people believe they are above the law." The general explained.

"So, they plan to leave Iron Man on the back burner?"

"No," General Ironwood's voice became cold and calculated. "As the headmaster and general of Atlas, The Council has given me free reign to apprehend this 'Iron Man', arrest him for acts of vigilantism, and confiscate all technology from his possession that is deemed dangerous to Atlas and her people."

' _Yes, I'm sure weapons dealers like Hammer would love to try and get in Atlas's good graces by helping them try to get their hands on a suit like that too.'_ Ozpin thought, still looking out the massive window as he tried to understand the madness that is the Council's thinking. _'And don't get me started on how you didn't mention the other three kingdoms and their safety, James.'_

"Let's set aside these anomalies for now," The officer suggested, trying to make their argument into some form of reasoning between colleagues. "We are Headmasters in charge of a school, as such we should get back to making sure this Vytal festival goes off without a hitch."

"Yes, the large fleet you brought screams 'security'." The Headmaster of Beacon said, the civilized conversation between colleagues were immediately shot down and was back to being two grown men bickering about who's opinion is better.

"And I suppose putting faith in students who don't know the word: responsibility is any better?" Ironwood retorted. "Do you honesty believe, your children can win a war?"

Not replying to what his friend asked, Ozpin simply turned back to his friend him the truth. "I hope they never have too."

* * *

The night within the Kingdom of Vale is what you expect in a large populated area. Even at night, people still produce obnoxious noises through either shouting or using their vehicles to let everyone else near to know there angry. Of course, this is perfect for more shadier groups who want to be discreet by using such distractions to blend in to the city. That is the case with this current building, it was your typical run of the mil nameless structure like any other.

"You see anything?" A man wearing a bowler hat with an aqua stripe asked his friend who's also wearing the same thing as him with the only difference being a cobalt color.

"No," He said, looking through the scope of his sniper rifle. "Like the last three hours I see nothing out of the ordinary."

"Man, why don't I use the freaking sniper rifle!"

"Oh, boo whoo! I get a regular sniper rifle and you have your cool sword! I swear, Tuck, we were just supposed to steal dust at that shop, not steal the owner's sword!"

"It's not my fault!" The man named: Tuck defended himself. "And I didn't see you help! You suck at shooting with a pistol, you suck at using automatic rifles, what makes you think you'll do better with as a sniper?"

"Shut up and go to your post." He used the end of his rifle's barrel to point at his friend's spot. "We're here to guard this place for Roman to sell his shtick to gain their trust, so go to your post and stand guard so no one would sneak in."

"Whatever." The aqua colored goon shrugged his shoulders and went back to his job. "Can you at least pass me your flashlight? It's so dark that I can barely see ten steps ahead of myself."

"I thought you fully charged your scroll before we got up here?"

"I did, but I got bored and started to swipe right on some hot chicks on my app."

"Gross, just walk and I'll shine my light."

"Kind of wish Roman would have just added more lights to this place." Tuck said offhandedly as he started to walk.

"We're getting paid to stand guard, not think about how cheap he is." Using the flashlight attached to his rifle, the sniper shined it to his friend to help him see in the dark. "Here, now stop comp- Tuck?"

One second his friend was talking to him, the next he was no longer in sight. It shouldn't be possible for him to vanish, making the gunmen go high alert that someone was able to put the drop on them. Not taking the chance of fighting whoever took his friend by himself, the lone guard was about to signal the rest of the crew about the mysterious intruder when he suddenly felt the ground below him disappear.

"Wha-" Before he could speak, his mouth was sealed shut with a small glob of webbing. "MMMPH!"

No longer able to scream for help, his body continued to thrash around in hopes to get free from whatever snatched him away. His sudden levitation was soon stopped, when he felt a hand grab his collar and was now face to face with a pitch-black form with large glowing eyes.

"Night, night." Was all he before the only thing he saw was the man's fist getting closer to him before his entire vision saw darkness.

* * *

As he punched the man out cold, Spider-Man quickly got to work by wrapping the criminal in a cocoon web and hung him upside down under the billboard that was attached to the roof. Right next to the knocked out thug was also his friend with the sword followed by several more unconscious bodies he picked off after hopping from roof top to roof top.

With the help of nighttime blanketing Vale and how the components of his suit were made solely for blending into the darkness, Spider-Man easily weaved through the guards and was taking them down while also keeping an eye on the two Huntsmen walking to their destination.

So far, Spider-Man was able to take down the guards stationed on the roof without tripping any alarms, but he knew that once they enter inside the White Fang Rally Spider-Man will only have a short amount of time to investigate what Roman has to offer them. Call it a hunch, or precognitive spider sense, but he felt that this plan was going down south no matter how carful they try to be, which makes it even more imperative that Spider-Man should sneak inside and find out what Roman's plan is with this rally.

"Roman must be really confident if he stopped hiding." He said to himself as his eye followed Blake and Sun reach the entrance of the rally. "And whatever he has that's making him this confident definitely needs to be stopped."

Leaning over the edge of the roof, the wall crawler spotted the two getting in line with other young teens having unique animal qualities to them.

' _2…6…10 are in line, including Blake and Sun. I shouldn't be surprised that some Faunus would still try to join the White Fang, but it still leaves a pit in my stomach to know they would resort to this.'_

Seeing them throw away their life made Spider-Man remember Mr. Pesto's nephew's death after he joined the Fang. The image of Denny's peaceful face after he sacrificed his life caused Spider-Man's anger to flair out of control.

 **(CRUSH!)**

Out of grief or anger, Spider-Man broke a piece of cement from the roof making the Faunus who were in line to look up from the noise.

' _I have to duck, but there already looking this way! I have to stay still and not make any sudden movements, their hearing is far better than humans, so even if I take a step back I'm sure the guards from the inside will start taking notice that their friends from up top aren't responding.'_

Crouching low enough so his lenses weren't seen, his back being the only visible thing due to the roof's ledge not tall enough to hide his entire body, Spider-Man held his breath as he felt his spider sense tingle for only a moment before it subsided. Taking a minute of staying still, the web head took a chance, and looked over the ledge to see if they all started to suspect anything weird.

Since most of them weren't trained Huntsmen or disciplined like the White Fang, the line of young Faunus just stood in line and talked amongst each other like it was normal to be in a dark alleyway.

"What was that noise?"

"You think it was the cops?"

"Maybe it was Spider-Man, then again what are the chances of that happening?"

Pressing his body as close to the ledge to make him as small as possible, Spider-Man's was hoping to stay out of sight when his eyes saw a small ray of light right across from him.

' _The flash light from the rifle! The guy dropped it when I snagged him with my web!'_

Not wasting any movement, he raised his hand and shot a web line to the rifle, tugged on it with a bit of force, the weapon flew into his hand, and the flashlight attached to the sniper rifle was quickly turned off.

' _Did they notice? I made sure not to make too much noise! Come on, I just had this costume made and_ _ **I'm the one**_ _who botched this stealth op!?'_

Still remaining silent, the hero listened to what they had to say in regard to the noise he caused when he broke a piece of the ledge, but so far he hasn't heard anything in regards to anything else.

Their questioning became more and more louder to the point that even Blake had to raise her voice to get their attention.

"Can you all quiet down!" She said to them, her voice laced with ice that all the Faunus in line quickly closed their mouths. "We're here to join the White Fang! Not gossip about some random noise! Besides, it's obvious there's going to be more guards on the roof, right?"

Looking at the two White Fang members to answer her question, they both looked at each other for a moment before the one on the left nodded his head to confirm her deduction.

"There, it's settled." With everyone now focused on entering, Blake was handed a face mask and was motioned by the two Fang members that she can go inside.

' _Thanks for the save, Blake. But, I wonder why the two guarding the entrance didn't call the guys on the roof about the noise? I know one of them is friends with Blake, but what about the guy next to him? My only guess is that Roman has two separate comm links and he doesn't fully trust the White Fang. So, if this Rally went south he can at least radio his gang to escape and let all the blame rest on the group now known as terrorists.'_

His thoughts had to be put aside however, when he saw Sun finally enter the building leaving him the only one outside. This made Spider-Man to continue with the task at hand and infiltrate through a different means of entry. Getting back up on his feet, he took a couple of steps back from his spot, crouched down, and like a spring he jumped a few feet in the air and landed on the roof across from him. Now usually, a jump from one roof top to the other would cause a noise loud enough to be heard from bellow, but thanks to his uncanny ability to be perfectly balanced he was able to land feet first on the roof's ledge without causing a single sound.

"I don't want to waste webbing when I can just jump across." He said to not around him. "If I keep using so much webbing then I might as well make a huge sign telling them I'm here. It's better to use my other abilities until I get into a situation when I have to use them."

Scanning his surroundings, Spider-Man saw his own entrance being a large air vent with the only obstacle being a large spinning fan. Not wanting to be shredded in his new suit, he shot a small glob of webbing to stop the fan from rotating, giving him an opportunity to squeeze between the blades.

"Alieoop!" Jumping through the fan blades like a dog going through a hoop, Spider-Man safely made it through the other side with little to no effort as the small webbing finally gave out and the fan began to spin rapidly as if nothing happened. "Nailed it. Now then, where should I start looking?"

Crawling through the large vent, Spider-Man peeked through every grate he passed showing the White Fang either guarding weapons, crates with what he assumed to be dust, and a large open space where he saw a rather large group of young Faunus.

"Blake," Spider-Man stopped moving when he saw his friend standing in place as she scanned the room she was occupied in. "I also see Sun walking towards her too."

' _A lot of Faunus are here,'_ Spider-Man thought to himself. _'Still, the room there in is still large enough to hold more, but the group below me is barley filling up half of it.'_

It was like comparing it to a small party renting out a ballroom from a hotel, the size was decent, but it wasn't as filled as Spider-Man expected. Though the amount of Faunus willing to join was small, it still doesn't take the account that over a dozen armed guards stood at the ready in case things turned south. Each one holding military grade weapons with some holding swords and axes, if the White Fang were trying to invite more of their kind to the cause it only worked half way since the Fang members made the would-be-recruits nervous at how threatening the White Fang looked.

' _They'll all at the center, with the Fang blocking every direction, including the only exit. This looks more like a hostage situation like at the bank, only instead of it being hostages it's a recruitment drive. Man, the longer I'm here the more I feel like this was a bad plan after all.'_

Deciding that he stayed long enough, the hero continued to crawl though the ventilation system where he finally reached to the end of the ventilation shaft. More specifically, the end of crawling though horizontally.

"Looks like it goes all the way down, probably leading to a basement." Crawling downward with the help of his adhesive ability. The web head descended to what at first, he thought was the basement, but instead of a simple basement it was an armory holding even more weapons. "Ok, either I took the wrong turn, or this is the basement."

' _Guess this is my stop.'_

Reaching his objective, Spider-Man crawled near one of the grates, placed his hands on it, applied a small amount of force, and with his ability to cling to any surface held on to the grate as it was pushed out of its place. Sliding through the opening, Spider-Man placed the grate to the side, got up to his feet, picked up the grate, and placed it back to cover his tracks.

"Ok, now, I can get a better- Ok, that's a lot of guns!" Spider-Man said before he quickly covered his mouth with his hands.

Looking through the vent obscured his vision, so Spider-Man didn't take account for what the real size of the basement was. It was the same length and width of the outside building, had no separate rooms like upstairs, but it did have stairs leading to a single office at the center.

"Man," Spider-Man walked near one of the weapons rack to see them all in clean condition. "Looks like they just opened it from their crates. I expected to see a few boxes of fire arms, but this looks like they can supply and entire company of troops."

Taking a step back, Spider-Man saw that not only did Roman stocked piled high-grade military weapons, he also stockpiled a decent amount of dust too. Each dust was organized by the element and the size of the container, but when Spider-Man took a better look at who were the previous owners of the stolen dust some of the names ranged from Hammer from Atlas to Mr. Osborn's company too.

' _Dang it! Guess I was an idiot to think that Roman would just steal dust from Vale alone. I'm betting the Fang also stole dust from other kingdoms and shipped them here to help Roman with the rally.'_

"In a lighter note, at least small-time dust shops aren't in the stock pile as much as the more richer companies." Deciding to take a vile from the fire dust pile, the blonde spider inspected the quality of the dust and noticed the brand name. "Schnee... that's Ruby's partner last name if I remembered correctly. I wonder what her thoughts would be if she knew her family is also losing this much dust."

Not wanting to be considered a thief, Spider-Man placed it back its original place, lifted his vest, and pulled out his camera that was latched securely on his belt. After his suit was ruined, he tried his best to salvage most of it and add it to his new suit since Spider-Man thought it was a waste to just toss it all away. Thankfully, some of the pieces from his previous suit was still usable, one such piece was his belt with added small pouches that housed his own modified webbing.

"Ok," Focusing his lens to make sure he got a good picture, Spider-Man took a view steps back to make sure he got everything in the shot. "Time to eat your heart out, J.J!"

Taking pictures of all the dust, Spider-Man took a few seconds to make sure they were all in good quality before he shifted the camera to take photos of the stolen weapons.

"This it some good pictures of the weapons, but J.J won't take this into account unless I have pictures of the thieves."

Putting his camera down, Spider-Man was about to explore more of the large area when he heard some machine whining from the center office.

"An elevator in the office? Guess I shouldn't be surprised that there's a different way to get here." Not wasting any time, the web head went back to the air vent he went through, took the grate out, leaped inside, and placed back to its original spot. "This is a good opportunity to take some shot of them with all these stolen goods."

Hearing the elevator doors opening, Spider-Man counted several of Roman's men walking out of the office with crates varying from dust to ammunitions.

"Ok, you know where to put these." One of the goons who was the only one not holding anything said to the rest of his posse. "Make sure, to put them at their specific spot, you know how Roman like's it when everything is organized."

Following orders, each goon walked in different paths and placed the items in a different location. Not losing an opportunity like this, Spider-Man crawled higher in to the vent to get a birds-eye-view on the layout. Crawling high enough, he saw the vent branch out leading him to be above the arms room with several other vents going to different directions.

' _I can take them down one by one, but the lights are bright enough for them to spot me.'_ Scanning to find any possible ways to kill the lights, his eyes traveled to where they first entered. _'I'm betting that the controls are over there, I can even take the guy shouting orders too, while I'm at it.'_

"Hurry up and place the valuables!" He screamed, to show he was serious he pulled out his ax and started to slam it on the rails. "We have a truck load more coming our way, we can't mess around with this stuff! Roman's already mad that most of this stuff was stopped by some flying robot, so we have to me extra carful not to lose track of how much we have here."

Getting to position where he was right above his first target, Spider-Man pulled the ceiling grate out of its frame, attached a web line on the edge of the vent, slowly descended until he was right above the unsuspected goon, and grabbed him before he can utter a single word. Using one arm to securely grab him, Spider-Man pulled on his web line to raise him and the first guard high in the air, placed him on the ceiling, punched him at the center of his face, and before he could fall the spider hero shot a web net to attach him to the ceiling.

"Ok, big mouth is taken down." Looking down the make sure the other thugs didn't notice one of their guys are gone, Spider-Man lowered himself to the office floor to turn off the lights. Finding the power box next to a fancy looking desk with box of cigars and alcohol, Spider-Man walked around the desk and opened the power box to see all the switches that are 'ON'. "Time to take down the rest of the goon squad."

 **(BUUURRRRMM!)**

Flipping all them 'OFF' the entire armory that was filled with light was soon plunged into darkness causing the rest of Roman's thugs to start panicking.

"Hey! What happened to the lights!?"

"Did he turn off the power?"

"Quick, turn on your flash lights! We can walk back and turn on the power."

"Oi, quit screwing around and turn on the lights! We ain't Faunus, so we can't see in the dark!"

' _That's the plan, idiot.'_ Now, no longer worried about being seen in full luminescent light, Spider-Man jumped off the office railing and landed on the same level where the rest of the armed thugs were scrambling separately to reach for the light switch. _'Each one, going separate ways, but reaching for the only light source where I'm waiting to ambush them. I feel like this is good opportunity to say a witty one liner about spiders but taking care of them before they can get help takes more precedence.'_

Crouching low behind a stack of unknown crates, Spider-Man waited until one of them was close by to perform a sneak attack.

"I'm close to the office, all of you just stay put." Just as he said his advice, as soon as he walked past the crates Spider-Man was hiding from did the web head strike.

 **(TWIP! TWIP!)**

Shooting a web line to the gunman's back, Spider-Man pulled the string to make the guard face him, and just before he had time to register that Spider-Man was here did the Bowler hat thug received another web line directed to his face.

"MPFH!"

Dropping his gun, the nameless crook tried to remove the adhesive webbing, but was stopped when Spider-Man used both of his hands to pull the web line down to the floor, causing the man to follow suit and slam his head on the solid cement floor knocking him out instantly. Not finished with the unconscious guard, Spider-Man placed two web nets to leave him in place on the floor.

"Hey, where did his light go?" Spider-Man heard on of the other guards say to the rest of his gang.

"I don't know, one of you go check on him and we'll watch your back."

"O-Ok, I guess I'll go next."

' _Time to find a better hiding spot.'_ Not pressing his luck on taking out another guard with the same trick, Spider-Man lifted both of his hands in the air, shot two web lines to the ceiling, pulled, and was instantly air born.

"Hey, you still there?" Looking below, the wall crawler saw the second guard taking tentative steps to where he last saw his friend. "Huh? Wha-!"

 **(TWIP!)**

Right when he found his friend webbed to the floor, his entire body was soon engulfed in a net of webbing, was pulled up in the air, and was staring directly into Spider-Man's reflective lenses before the hero delivered a straight punch to the thug's face. Not wanting to lower him to the floor for all to see, the web head cocooned him and attached the supporting string to the ceiling frames.

"Where did he go!?"

"Look above, I think I saw him get snagged from the ceiling!"

Pointing all their lights above, they saw their friend strung up on the ceiling. Just when they were moving their lights to see if more of their friends were up there, one of them caught movement in the corner of his eye making the man scream.

"Shut up! Why are you screaming?"

"I saw something jump down!"

"Did you get a good look at it! Was it Spider-Man?"

"I couldn't tell!"

"How can you not tell? He wears that stupid jumpsuit!"

"He must be here somewhere! The rest of you guys walk towards me! We'll walk to the office and get help!"

Listening to the only one was wasn't visibly afraid, the remaining guards formed a circle with each one facing a different direction.

"Looks like they're finally catching on that I'm here, but they don't know where I am thanks to my stealth suit blending in with the darkness." Still on the ceiling, the hero followed the small group walk towards the office with only a few times slowing down to move their weapons to scan the area. "Got to give them props to aim their guns in each direction, unfortunate they didn't take the account that I would do this."

Timing it just right, just when the four-man group stopped to scan the large room, Spider-Man jumped off the ceiling and landed right in the middle of their small circle.

While in a crouch due to him landing from the ceiling, the spider hero performed a leg sweep making all four of the remaining guards to lose their balance. With their momentum off balanced, Spider-Man ejected a web line to one of the guards and like a wrecking ball slammed him to the other three goons.

Swinging them around a couple of times, the hero decided to shoot another web line to encase them in a net ball, lifted them above his head, and slammed them down to the floor. Letting go of the line, the arachnid hero walked to the heap of bodies to check if they were seriously injured from his attack.

"I still hear breathing." Spider-Man moved his ear closer to hear if they might be breath irregularly. "I don't hear anything wrong. That throw I did to them still might have hurt, but I'll make sure to call 911 when I complete my mission."

' _Now, I should head back to the office and turn back on the lights, I may be able to see in the dark, but my camera sure doesn't.'_

Not wasting any more time, Spider-Man launched a web string to the office railing and reeled himself to the office to turn the lights back on. Walking inside to turn the power back on he was about to go back to get more evidence with the stolen good, when he heard voices coming from the first thug he took down.

"Can you hear me? Hello?!" A disembodied voice said through the knocked-out goon.

"Hello there, what do we have here?" Reaching in the breast pocket of the crook's suit, the black suited spider pulled out a small walkie-talkie. "So, you guys did have a means to communicate to upstairs, or was it just you and not the rest of your friends?"

Spider-Man was about to answer his own questions, when the voice coming through the small device started back up again.

"I swear if you don't answer in 5 min- Hey, where is the big guy?" He sounded confused. "You saw him use the elevator going down? You hear that?! We got some muscle going down to help you guys, so sit tight and wait until he arrives."

After the person from the other end finished talking the walkie-talkie became silent leaving Spider-Man to deal with the new information he was given. Spider-Man shouldn't be surprised that they would send backup, but what he didn't expect to have backup be just one single person. Walking carelessly back inside the office, he stopped just in front of the elevator scratching the back of his head in bewilderment at how they sounded so sure that one guy would make a difference.

 _ **(BING!)**_

' _That must be the added security. My spider sense is acting up, but I'm sure I can take care of one single guy as easy as counting to 1,2-'_

Spider-Man couldn't finish his inner monologue when a large, meaty hand emerged from the elevator doors and grasped his throat.

"GURK!." Automatically reaching the large hand that was choking him, Spider-Man was just about to pry the limb off him, before his entire body was lifted with the same arm that was currently strangling him.

"So, you are this 'Spider-Man' I have heard so much about." Said the bulking giant wearing the signature White Fang mask. The mask was the only indicator that he was part of the Fang, since the outfit this new opponent was wearing consisted of mostly plated armor with only a few joints showing pitch black fabric. "So far, I'm not impressed."

' _I think this is the part where I know I messed up.'_

* * *

"Ugh!" Spider-Man tried to loosen the first to give him some air. "So, you're this 'big guy' I heard just a few moments ago." He imitated the voice of the armored bruiser. "So far, I'm terrified."

Letting out a snort as his reply, the giant threw the hero out of the office with enough force that the wall crawler bent the outside railing outboard that it almost got out of its hinges. Now, no longer in a vice grip, the spider teen's body automatically corrected his balance and landed safely on all fours.

' _Ok, should really stop pushing my luck. Otherwise, situations like this will keep happening.'_

No longer acting carelessly after witnessing such display of pure strength, he got back up on his two feet and placed his fists in front of him to get ready for a full-blown fight.

"I was told to be here in case trouble showed up." The armored Fang member said as his heavy footsteps shook the floor. "They also told me that if you showed up I should restrain you."

"And I'm guessing that if I put up a struggle with said restraining, you would do…?" Spider-Man asked.

Smirking, the fully armored guard jumped off the platform and as he landed on the basement floor several small cracks formed underneath his feet.

"I would do my best to only break you partially." Spider-Man's opponent said to him as he started to crack both of his armor-plated fists. "Legs first, then I work my way up."

"Yeah, yeah." Spider-Man nodded. "No."

Pointing his right web shoot at the power box next to the entrance, Spider-Man ejected a small glob of webbing on to the electric box. Said webbing started to emit sparks, short circuiting the system and powering down all the lights within the large basement.

Distracted from the sudden shortage, the White Fang member looked back to face Spider-Man, but all he saw in front of him was nothing.

"Idiot! I'm a Faunus, I can see in the dark just like you! If you think just because you're wearing a suit that helps you blend in, you have another thing coming." Now, on the attack the heavily armored charger started to search where his prey is hiding. Little did he know, while the brute was busy trying to find what's in front of him, he didn't register what was below him.

 **(SQUISH!)**

"Huh?" Unable to move his right foot, the armored Fang member tried to lift his leg and was immediately pulled back to the floor. "What is this?"

 **(TWIP! TWIP!)**

Lowering his defenses, he gave Spider-Man the opportunity to drop down from the ceiling and shoot two organic web lines to the back of Fang member's armor.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Trying to reach for the web strings, but couldn't due to his massive frame, all he was able to do was flail his arms around as Spider-Man yanked his back plating off to show his bare back to the enemy. "You're not getting away now that you're this close!"

Turning around quick enough to have even Spider-Man be surprised for a guy this big to move that quickly, the metal plated Faunus raised his arms to his sides and attempted to squeeze the life out of the hero.

"I should be the one saying that!" In a display of perfect reflexes and reaction speed, Spider-Man shot another pair of web lines to the front plate of the armor, jumped high to avoid the charge, pulled on the web lines, and ripped off the front portion of the giant's armor plating.

"If you think that's gonna stop me your wro- **BZZZZZZ!** " Just when he was about to finish speaking, two web globs landed on his back, shocking him to the point where Spider-Man started his next part of his attack.

Shooting a web line to the back of his foe, the hero pulled to make his target face him, dashed forward to close the gap between them, and started to unleash a barrage of punches. His assault had to end when his spider sense flared up making him jump back in the nick of time as the sparks from his electric dust webbing died out, giving the large Faunus an attempt to try and land a hit on the web head.

' _Got to hide!'_

Making sure he won't follow him, Spider-Man blinded the Faunus guard with an organic web shot and hid behind a nearby stack of crates. Checking to make sure he wasn't seen he looked between the crates to see the less armor-plated Faunus rip the webbing off his mask and began to throw anything that was in his way.

"I ain't falling for the same trick." Looking at the floor, the large man stared at a tall stack of crates, took to a charging position, and ran head first to the piles of boxes shattering both wood and metal that was within the containments. "I'll make sure to even look above in case you have the idea of getting the drop on me!"

No longer able to use the same tactic, the human hybrid contemplated what his next plan of attack will be.

' _Well, I guess I shouldn't expect him to be all brawn and no brain. Glad I brought the extra strong web fluid just in case I need something heavy to stay in one place. Who knew I would use it this soon and on someone as heavy as an armored truck!'_

Looking at his hands, his night vision helped him see that the gloves that he wore has large scuff marks and tears showing his skin slightly red. _'I took his chest piece of and punched over a dozen times, yet his skin felt just as sturdy as the armor he's wearing.'_

He was interrupted from his inner thoughts when he had to move from his hiding spot to another heap of crate. If he didn't, then he would have been on the receiving end of a metal headbutt.

"Where are you!" The man screamed. "You can't hide forever!"

Looking over from where he was hiding, the blonde hero could see that the masked Faunus has already destroyed most of every cargo here, leaving just only a few places left to hide behind.

' _I need to get that helmet off him,'_ Spider-Man followed his enemy's movements as he continued to knock over crates and barrels. Just when he thought to try the same move twice, his desperation soon ended when he saw the large brute try to knock over a large construct covered in a tarp that had the White Fang logo on the center.

When he tried to use his head what followed was a loud 'GONG!' making the Faunus stumble from the head trauma he inflicted on himself. _'And I just found a good way to take him down for good, too.'_

"Grr!" He shook his head to shake off the pain. "I'm getting sick and tired of you hiding!"

"Now's a good time, I guess." Taking a deep breath, the wall crawler hopped on top of where he was hiding and shouted. "Don't need to hide when I'm dealing with someone who's dumb like you!"

"There you are!" Not giving the web head time for a quip, he charged straight forward with carless abandon. "I'm gonna flatten you!"

' _Wait for it…'_ Spider-Man stayed in place as his adversary got closer and closer. _'NOW!'_

"Hup!" Jumping just at the right moment when the large Faunus rammed the stack of wooden crates over, Spider-Man landed on top of his back and obscured the White Fang guard's vision by covering the eye slits of the mask. "Now you see me, now you don't!"

' _Got to steer him back in the right direction.'_ Using his head as a steering wheel, Spider-Man angled the raging charger back to where he first saw him bang his head at the large object and started to heckle him to start running forward. "I got to ask, you're wearing all this armor, but punching you I felt like your skin is just as durable, does that make you like a shark? Oh, or maybe a hippo Faunus?"

"Are you serious?" He sounded offended. "I ain't no hippo! I'm a Rihn-"

"Peek-a-boo!" Using his ability to stick to any surface, the spider themed hero pulled the heavy plated helmet off the muscular Faunus, jumped off his back, and watched as the now armorless Faunus hit the heavy object once more without protective head gear.

 **(GONG!)**

"-oh…" Resonating an even louder noise from colliding with whatever was being covered in tarp, the thick-skinned Faunus stumbled on his feet as he tried to get the room to stop spinning.

"Oh, indeed." Not wanting to take any more chances, the all black hero shot two web lines on both shoulders of the debilitated crook, pulled back, and like a sling shot Spider-Man was propelled feet first and made a direct hit at the center of the giant's face.

Not able to take damage at such high speeds, the massively framed Faunus attempted to grab whatever was nearby to help him stay on his feet. His hand reaching for the tarp to hold on too, but the lightweight fabric couldn't hold his massive weight making the thin veil fall alongside him, giving the hero a good look at what was underneath the large blanket.

"Ok, glad I got him out of the way. Now, I can go back to taking pictures of stolen wepo...ons…uhhhhh…"

What he expected from underneath the fabric was a large pile of metal, maybe some heavy caliber fire arms. He did not expect to find a very tall, and very scary looking killer robot hiding underneath the covers. The stolen fire arms, dust, and other military grade material he can understand being stolen, but he can't wrap his head around on how Roman was able to grab something like this!

"How the... who in the right mind would be able to make this? And why!?" Circling around the machine, his questions was answered when he saw _'made in Atlas'_ engraved behind the left leg of the murder robot. "Forget what I just said. Man, to think Atlas would be able to make this without the other kingdoms knowing yet. Hold on, if Atlas hasn't published that they have a weapon like this, then that should mean it should be heavily guarded within Atlas."

Facing the front of the robot he squinted his eyes to see any other wording etched into the machine. Stopping right underneath the chest was the name 'Paladin' letting the hero know what name Atlas gave their new toy.

"A thing like this shouldn't be easy to steal, Roman may be a criminal mastermind, but he can't have connections so strong that he can get something like this easily. Too many variables leading to them getting this thing, but one stands out and it holds more evidence then the other answers I have in mind."

Going back several nights ago, Qrow's explanation about the sudden increase of crime came in to his mind, one part involving this 'Queen'. Shaking his head at how the situation he's in is getting harder and harder to comprehend, the blonde spider sighed in resignation at his terrible luck.

"Great, this whole conspiracy thing is starting to hurt my head. Roman still needs to be sent to jail, but I don't know how dangerous this Queen really is. She must have deep pockets and deep connections if she can get this to help Roman sway the Faunus join the White Fang."

Deciding it was better to get a better look, Spider-Man climbed to the top of the robot to see anything else he can find useful. "Well, I always dreamed of seeing a giant fighting robot when I was a kid, but how do I get this stupid thing to open? Hmm?"

Seeing some latch on the top of the walking tank, his curiosity was piqued making him pull it to see if anything happened. Hearing something moving he turned his head to see the cockpit door open wide for the pilot to enter.

"So, tempting," He muttered as he slowly reached for the pilot seat. "But, I can't just drop everything I'm doing just to pretend that I'm piloting a robot... A super cool, giant robot!"

' _Besides! I got to know everything about this machine, not entering it will go against that logic!'_

Having thought of that reason, Spider-Man didn't waste any more time as he entered the cockpit and marveled at how advanced the controls for the Paladin was. From the controls under his feet controlling the legs, buttons ranging from different shapes and sizes, and the main controls for moving the arms made Jaune's inner child scream with nostalgia.

"Oh," He grasped the controls that operates the main weapons. "If only my kid self was here now, he would say being a superhero was cool, but a superhero piloting a giant robot is EVEN COOLR! Man, I can already see what it's like if I had my own giant robot. I'm even more positive if Ruby was here she would feel the same way like me."

His day dreaming had to be cut short however, when he decided to squeeze the handles making the pilot hatch close shut leaving Spider-Man trapped inside.

"Ok, fun times over. Need to get out now!" He attempted to replicate what he did that made the hatch close, but he only made it worse when the paladin started to activate. "Everything's fine! Everything's going to be ok! I can do this!"

Spider-Man's shouting kept going for a good moment, that as he kept fiddling with the controls, he didn't notice that the Paladin was on top of a moving platform. Said platform began to rise to the top to where it was going to be shown to the the Faunus wanting to join the Fang.

"My spider sense keeps telling me something dangerous is happening, but I already know I'm in trouble! I don't know how to turn this stupid thing off!" He screamed desperately as he fiddled with more buttons. "Ok, I really shouldn't start pressing so many buttons! Aha! This looks important!"

Looking at the display screen in front of him he saw the options icon at the bottom left corner. "Please, make this a touch screen!"

Pressing his index finger on the options icon a different screen popped up giving him different options, but when he saw the universal sign of the power button he wasted no time to press it making the paladin finally shut down. Leaning back in the chair from relief, Spider-Man took slow deep breath to calm himself before steeling his nerves again.

"Ok, now that the nightmare is over, I can get back to- why do I hear screaming?" Staying quiet and putting his ear close to the metal wall, he could hear faint sounds of screaming. "Maybe my spider sense was telling me about a different danger, after all."

Not wanting to press any more buttons he just pressed both his hands to the hatch leading outside of the robot, used some of his super strength, and forced his way out of the cockpit and back outside.

"AAAAHH!" Just when he opened the hatch wide open, a very familiar voice scream followed by the sound of someone falling. "OOF!"

Spider-Man turned his head to where he heard the scream and was about to ask if the stranger was ok, but the stealth suited spider instantly froze after he realized where he was.

What was in front of him, was the White Fang and Faunus civilians running around in a panic after experiencing an out of control robot wrecking havoc inside the warehouse that was holding the Rally.

"Ohhh." He tucked his head between his shoulders like a turtle hiding in its shell. "I guess this is what I should expect if I ever decided to learn how to drive, huh?"

Moving his eyes to see all the damage he caused, Spider-Man felt a wave of joy seeing that his actions only caused some small damages but saw no signs of any lives lost from the disaster. Wiping away the pretend sweat trickling down his mask to show that he dodged a bullet, the wall crawler was about to go back to leave the paladin when he felt the room starting to go deathly silent.

He froze, looking back at what was around him, the spider vigilante saw both regular Faunus and the White Fang stopped their panicking to look right at him. The faces he could see were only the visible faces of the Faunus who wanted to join the Fang. Each individual had a wide range of emotions from seeing the Spider hero, from awe at how they were able to see Spider-Man this close to dread knowing the fact that since there here the hero will likely web them up and send them to the police.

Of course, for the Fang there only response was to draw their weapons and made a wide circle around the black suited spider.

"Ugh!" Roman Torchwick groaned as he picked himself off the destroyed cement floor, dusted himself off, and pointed his new cane at the webbed nuisance that's been making a fool out of him for months. "Spider-Man!"

"Um," Spider-man turned his head to the left and then to the right as the armed White Fang terrorists pointed their weapons right at him. "Oh man!" He used the palm of his hand to smack his forehead. "I thought I was playing a robot simulator, but here I am, in an actual robot! Heh, heh, can you guys believe that! Ha, ha, heh…. Can you?"

The only reply he got from the large crowd of heavily armed terrorists were the sound of guns cocked and aimed squarely on him.

"Yeah, I kind of knew that would be you guy's answer."

* * *

 **Another chapter made and a whole lot more questions that need to be answered! Was this chapter too short, maybe not too descriptive on some parts? Maybe a good bit of both? This story is getting a good motion and I hope you guys like how this chapter will lead up to the fallout of what happens afterwards! New suit, a new guy that he fought, and a very surprising way to ruin his own plan is by accidentally piloting the paladin, are usually how I think of both Jaune's/Spider-Man's luck usually goes by. But, I'm sure you guys are going to be thrilled of what happens after this chapter, but before that happens I'm sure you guys have some questions that you need answered from the previous one, so here I go.**

 **So, the stealth suit was bright up to me when I played Spider-Man: Shattered dimensions and watched Ultimate Spider-Man. It looked great and I thought it would help Jaune be more stealth that not only looks cool, but also complements his spider powers. I know his powers would be enough to make him sneak around and he doesn't need the suit, but it still gives him other uses like intimidation, make him a lot harder to hit since he's not wear bright color, and the most important thing he needs above all else is that it makes him look more intimidating. Also, I planned to have him get a different suit, but he will go back to his original suit in later chapters. Like Spider-Man from earth-616, Jaune will have his own collection of suits, the stealth suit is just his first of many spider costumes I will give him, but right now it's just Scarlet spider suit and the Noir/Stealth suit.**

 **I also got comments about the venom suit too. Unfortunately, it won't be introduced in quite some time. Either it will be used around the chapters that revolve around RWBY Vol. 4, so it will take some time to add the symbiote. I want to make this story have a consistent time line and if I add so many elements of Spider-Man's like it would sound forced.**

 **Another thing I get are some negative feedbacks about some plot holes being present and how I don't treat certain characters correctly. I know I'm an amateur writer, so I will make mistakes along the way. I read each of your comments and it helps me make changes to my story to make it better for all of you to read. So, I apologize for both my 2** **nd** **rate writing and if I offend any of you on how I make character in the show to be something different. I need your guy's reviews to make it better, just please when you do tell me what's wrong don't just insult it and leave it at that, actually give me some of your ideas to make it better and not just tell me it's bad.**

 **The paladin in the show was also kind of tweaked a bit also. It was covered in tarp and shown in the same room as everyone else, but I wanted it to be used as a tool to help Spider-Man fight Alex and I thought to myself it would be kind of like a Jaune/Spider-Man thing to do if he somehow messed things up.**

 **Now, for those who know who Alex is, good for you guys and I'm very glad you know who he is, but for those who don't let me tell you. Alex is the man who will become The Rhino later in the story, so I'll be adding more Spider-Man villains soon making Jaune's bad guy roster a little bigger.**

 **Speaking about villains, let's talk about heroes. Specifically, Iron Man, who will finally be in the main story line! The Omake was there to not only add some backstory to Iron Man, but to also tie him in to how Roman got the Paladins in the first place.**

 **For the next chapter, the long-awaited fight at the highway will commence! I hope you guys will like how I'll write how Spider-Man will fight the machine, but above all how you guys will react when team RWBY will be added to the fray. I know one commenter wrote a small paragraph on what he thinks the fight at the highway will be and I got to say I really liked how he portrayed it when Jaune/Spider-Man gets angry.**

 **I hope you guys liked this chapter and will follow, fav, and leave a comment on this chapter. Don't forget to also check out my Beta-Reader's stories too! Without his help, I'm sure I wouldn't be able to make great chapters every time!**

 **Like always, I hope you guys will enjoy this chapters Omake!**

* * *

 **OMAKE: Nice Walk In The Park**

Spider-Man.

The masked hero everyone within the Kingdom of Vale can say that he's either a hero or a villain. A man who wears a mask, but not to terrorize Remnant like a certain group that turned its back on their ideals. He wears the mask to hide his identity as he fights the wrongs in the city, to make sure those who have a grudge against him won't use his personal life to destroy him.

A hero that some say is a Faunus due to his animalistic traits, while the other half would say a Huntsman who decided to take his own code to follow then the law of the Council, there's even smaller groups that say he could be something more. Either way, the amount of theories and news revolving the hero is so abundant that it gets hard to separate truth from fiction.

No one has ever really gotten enough time to know why he dresses up as a hero or why he does them, but one thing that everyone should know is that under his costume, he's just a person like any other.

"MMM!" Jaune Arc, stretched out his arms and took a deep breath through his nostrils before expelling it all out through his mouth. "Man, I do love a day off."

And like any anyone who deal's with either work, school, or even by the off chance trying to fight crime as a superhero, then days off like these are something very rare and very few. Yes, having a schedule filled with schoolwork, doing three separate jobs on a different day, and be Spider-Man 24/7 can be very taxing to our young blonde spider. That's why one day in every two weeks, Jaune picks a day to not go to work and enjoy some quality time to himself. Of course, he knows that if trouble does arrive he'll always jump into his hero persona and help peoples who are in trouble, but to just have time for yourself despite it being short, is still worth it in Jaune's eyes.

That's why, our hero chose the park to enjoy his time of not doing anything but enjoy the sights and take pictures with his trusty camera.

"Now," Putting his down and on the camera that was slung around his neck, Jaune looked around the public park to see if there was anything worth taking a picture of. "Time to do what I promised myself and just enjoy a nice walk in the park! No stuffing my head full of knowledge, no busting my rump ay work, just me going for a normal walk in the pa-"

' _Wait a minute.'_ Feeling a slight tingle in the back of his skull, Jaune turned his head to if danger was anywhere close by _. 'Ok, I just took literally three steps before my spider sense was set off, what am I going to fight in a park? White Fang? Roman's goons? Or maybe…'_

"A kid climbing a tree?"

Just as Jaune said out loud, his eyes spotted a little girl with red hair climbing a tree to retrieve what appears to be a balloon that's stuck between two branches.

"Please don't fall! Please don't fall! Please don't fall! Please don't fall!" Rushing over to the little girl who was half way up the tree, jaune made it just in time before she got any higher and spoke to get her attention. "Excuse me! Little girl, where are your parents?"

' _Oh man, I hope no one else see what I'm doing and plan on calling the police. I already have a hard-enough time being labeled as a criminal when I'm Spider-Man, but I don't want it to happen to me being labeled as some pedophile while I'm me!'_

"Huh?" Turning her head to the stranger talking to her, the young child tilted her head before going back to getting her balloon down.

' _Of course, she wouldn't talk to some stranger.'_ Taking his eyes of the kid, Jaune saw her prize still stuck in the tree. _'I know I shouldn't do this, but I'm sure this kid's parents won't believe her.'_

 **(TWIP!)**

Shooting a web line to the balloon, Jaune pulled the silk lined balloon out of the tree and into his hands so the girl didn't have to climb all the way up the tree to get it. Her prize no longer in the branches, she turned her head in surprise after what she the blonde teen did just a moment ago.

"Got your balloon!" He taunted her in hopes for her to come down. _'Great, now I look like I really am trying to abduct this girl by baiting her with this thing.'_

"Now, if you can please safely climb down from the tree I can give yo- no Stop!"

Jumping off the tree, the young redhead was caught in Jaune's arm while his other still held on to the balloon she was after in the first place.

"Yay!" She squealed in delight. "Again! Again!"

"No, no," Putting her back on the ground, he handed the balloon back to her. "This is yours."

Looking at the balloon and then back to Jaune, it only took a minute of choosing before she immediately hugged his leg and gave him a wide grin!

"So cool!" She said with wonder in her eyes. "Do it again! Do it Again!"

Not surprised that she would react to such a display, Jaune gently removed her from his leg, handed her the balloon and gave her a smile like he usually does when he's with his siblings.

"I think finding your parents is more important." Holding her free hand, Jaune scanned the park to see if he might spot her parents. "You think you can scream their names? Maybe you have a scroll to call them?"

"It's ok!" She reassured Jaune. "My mom is on her way right now!"

"Really?" He said in surprise. "How do you know?"

"Because I told her."

"When?"

"Just now." She said like it was the simplest answer to give, but it only made him even more confused at how she just called for her mom when she didn't even shout or moved to find said parents.

"Because, my mom read my- Oh hi mom!" Letting go of Jaune's hand, the child ran and hugged the legs of her mother. "I got my balloon out of the tree thanks to him.

"Oh?" Looking over to who was with her daughter, the mother stared at the nervous teen before she gave him a serene smile. "Then let me thank the hero who saved my daughter, Katherine. It seemed she took quite the **shine** to you."

Extending her arms out for Jaune to shake, the mother with red hair made her introduction.

"My names Jean, pleas to meet you, Hero."

' _Hero? Kind of feels weird being called that since I'm not in my costume, but it feels nice either way.'_

"You don't have to thank me, I'm just glad I found her before it was too late." Seeing that he was no longer needed, Jaune waved his hands and started to walk away. "You two take care, especially you, Kathrine!"

"Bye! Bye!" The small child now known as Katherine shouted in delight as she saw her hero walk away. "He was cool, mom! I was climbing the tree, then I saw him shoot a web, and then he caught me with one arm!"

Listening to her daughter's small tale, the mother just patted her child's head, picked her up, and spoke in her usual motherly tone.

"That's quite a tale! How about you tell that to your dad, I'm sure he's going to love to hear about how you met a superhero!"

"Yeah!" Now, even more exited to tell her dad, Katherine wrapped her arms around Jean's neck as both mother and daughter walked back to their picnic sight. "Will we meet him again, mom?"

"Don't worry, Shine, I'm sure we'll meet him again. Either as Jaune or as Spider-Man."


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: This is CrazyCriticer46. Brotherhoof12 doesn't own RWBY or Spider-Man. These two belong to their respective creators.**

 **(Chapter 21: Highway to Web)**

* * *

Stealing, cheating, and lying. Those are the few things Roman Torchwick takes to heart if anyone wants to survive in this cruel world. Almost everyone in Remnant should know who he is, he's been on so many wanted lists, news channels, and even on crime episodes to show that he made a name for himself with his misdeeds.

From bribing the law to look the other way, stealing expensive objects to sell for a higher price, and even smuggling illegal objects to shady people are only just a few things that make him known as a criminal. However, in his eyes, every crime he committed was another way to extend his life until he had to perform another act of illegal affairs.

With every crime he made from stealing dust throughout the kingdom, including helping these animals commit their own shady dealings, made his boss see how valuable he is. The more valuable he looks, then the longer he gets to live.

True, Roman broke countless laws before he met her, but that was for him to live in comfort, to no longer be some yes man like he was before.

Roman has connections, bodies he can throw around, and even lien that he can use to even retire if such a thing exists for a crime boss like him. Every action he makes, every time he steals, or cheats, and lies is what's keeping him in the game long enough for him to try and figure out a way to get out without losing his life.

Just follow whatever demand she gave, and he could live another day to plan on how to get out of her crazy schemes. Steal dust, give it to her, think of a plan, rinse and repeat that's all he could do.

No matter how many times he planned in his head, his usual underhanded tactics could never beat her. She was too skilled, too strong, and far too dangerous to think that she was the usual morons he dealt with when they think they have one over him.

' _Reminds me back in my rookie days, following orders from that person. It's still surprises me that he just vanished without a trace, but thanks to the confusion for why he disappeared gave me the opportunity to take control of his work.'_

Roman's thoughts of when he was just a simple thug was cut short when he heard his radio turn on. Not wanting to hear the annoying sound for much longer, the crime boss picked up the radio and answered.

"What?" He sounded annoyed.

"Sir, all of the recruits are in the main room waiting for you." One of his nameless henchmen informed him.

"I'll be there shortly," Reaching for his new cane that was leaning on the warehouse wall, Roman pressed a button on the side of the radio to ask a question. "Any word on the rest of our shipments? I know we received one and it was guarded by that big freak, but we should have gotten more."

The other end of the radio line was silent, obviously trying to calm his nerves and not mess up when talking to Roman. Fortunately, the man spoke up before Roman could rip him a new one for keeping him waiting.

"Alex's team wasn't able to deliver the rest of the goods, just like the other groups scattered around Atlas, they were all stopped by the same hero living in that kingdom."

Clenching his cane harder out of frustration, Roman held his breath before he let out a sigh to release all the tension in his body.

' _Now, I have another costume nut job ruining everything. Little red and her team snooping around I can handle, but dealing with not one, but TWO so called 'heroes' isn't great for my health.'_

"One should be enough to control these sheep, I'll be down there in five minutes. Make sure we send some of our guys go to the basement to put away the remaining boxes we got today, understood?"

"Yes, sir." Accepting the order given to him, the radio was turned off, giving Roman time to walk to where his audience is waiting for him.

"This set back won't stop me," Roman made a fist with the same hand he used when he punched Spider-Man. His hand was already healed, but sometimes he could still feel the pain linger every so often. "I know you're somewhere nearby, ruining everything that I made, but I'll keep going no matter what. This kingdom doesn't know what's in store for it, so what better way to survive than work with the winning side?"

Walking to where his audience is waiting for him, Roman walked up the stage where he can already hear the disbelief coming from the Faunus when their eyes spotted a human as their recruiter. Not being fazed by their insults and threats, Roman gave them his usual smile whenever he wants people to trust him as he did his best to let them know why he's the best at exterminating humans.

' _Just you wait, Spider-Man. If you do drop in and act like a hero like I know you would, I'll have something in store for you that'll squash you like the bug you truly are!'_

Though Roman did have the recruits eating in the palm of his hands as he knew they would, he didn't take in the account that Spider-Man has already infiltrated his underground armory. The same armory holding the experimental Paladin he was going to show the entire group to show that joining the White Fang was a good idea. That idea was soon destroyed when the Paladin started to go on a rampage, taking down almost everything in its path and foiling Roman's chance of gaining the trust of the Faunus. Another insult to his pride is when the Paladin finally stopped moving. Roman became so furious at whoever was inside the robot that he decided to personally end that person's life with his own hands.

"AAAH!" Roman screamed thanks to the pilot opening the hatch so suddenly that the master thief lost his footing, fell, and landed head first on the hard-concrete floor.

"OOH." Roman heard the familiar voice of his most hated enemy. "I guess this is what I should expect if I ever decided to learn how to drive, huh?"

Adrenaline and rage starting to take over, Roman got back up and pointed his cane at the center of all his problems. "Spider-Man!"

"Um..." Spider-man turned his head to the left and then to the right as the armed White Fang terrorists pointed their weapons right at him. "Oh, man!" He used the palm of his hand to smack his forehead. "I thought I was playing a robot simulator, but here I am, in an actual robot! Heh, heh. Can you guys believe that? Ha, ha, heh…. can you?"

' _I hate you, Spider-Man.'_ The Kingpin of the criminal underworld exasperatedly thought.

* * *

 **(A few minutes before)**

' _I hate you, Roman.'_ Blake thought as she continued to listen to Roman's poisoned words. His suave act and practiced speech couldn't get through to her and Sun, but unfortunately, it was able to worm its way into the heads of the Faunus around her.

She wanted to stop this, get up on to the stage, remove her mask to show she's against the White Fangs new ideals, and expose Roman as the scum of Remnant he truly is. However, she knew that such an idea will not only lead to her and Sun down a tragic end, but also endanger countless innocent bystanders in the process.

Blake was always calm and collected on the outside, but she was just like any other person, it's just that she had an easier time bottling them up rather than showing it to people which was why after seeing Roman trying to trick these Faunus into believing it was ok to commit such deplorable acts almost made her lose her cool.

' _This isn't like you, Blake.'_ The cat girl calmed herself down. Looking to her right, she could see Sun looking around the area to see if Spider-Man was also watching Roman talking to the recruits. _'Stay calm and follow Spider-Man's orders. Like he said before: With great power, comes great responsibility.'_

Saying those same words Spider-Man said at the docks made her keep her emotions in check. After hearing him say those words at the dock, it became her own mantra, a rule that she must follow if she really wanted her dreams to bring Faunus and Humans together a reality. She already wasted her power to save the White Fang, to save Adam, from turning into what she feared the most. That's why, it was her responsibility to try and fix it, Blake knows it sounds arrogant of her to think that way, but wouldn't you feel the same way? Wouldn't anyone if they too had a similar situation?

"Blake." Sun snapped her out of her reverie. "Where do you think Spider-Man is? Should we try and move around and see what else we can use as proof of what the White Fang are doing?"

"We don't have to anything." She answered. "We did our part, and now the rest is up to Spider-Man."

"But what about Jaune?" Sun asked about the other male blonde. "You think your friends are already snooping around by now?"

Remembering the plan also involved Jaune keeping a secret from her team, made the cat Faunus only show a bit of surprise. That surprise for being forgetful soon quickly changed back to her usual stoic façade.

"If we don't see my team already busting through here, then that means Jaune is already stalling them. Remember, Spider-Man trusts Jaune, so we have to show the same trust too." She told him.

' _I'm also hoping that number I got from his Aunt will come in handy soon, too. Nice woman, still don't understand how she thinks me and her nephew are already steady.'_

"Alright." Sun looked back to the stage where Roman continued to prattle on about himself. "I'm sure Spider-Man is getting everything we need to finally put Roman behind bars."

"With enough evidence that not even Roman's lawyers or corrupt judges can't ignore, Vale will have one less thing to worry about." The 17 year old girl stoically replied.

"Kind of weird that nothing wrong hasn't started yet." The monkey Faunus said offhandedly. "I mean, don't get me wrong. Doing something like this is a nice pace and all, but I was expecting something big."

As she was about to add in her own thoughts, Blake's extra ears started to twitch when the volume from the rest of the Faunus started to cheer after Roman stopped speaking. Focusing on what's in front of her, the black-haired Huntress saw the center stage floor begin to split open and rising above was none other than a giant machine.

"I feel like you should learn how to start thinking before you speak, Sun." Blake gave her fellow Faunus a dull stare.

"Noted." Sun gave her a nod and raised his finger to the large weapon Roman revealed to the Faunus recruits. "Hey, is it supposed to be moving like that?"

Blake looked back at what Sun was talking about and saw that the robot was indeed moving on its own. By the look of confusion Roman was showing, he too was wondering what was going on. From a malfunction, a virus in the system, or someone hacking the machine, Blake had a dozen or so thoughts on why it started to move on its own.

But not one of them didn't involve Spider-Man to be the cause of it.

After the behemoth of a machine finally stopped its rampage, everyone within the building was completely surprised to see the webhead was the cause of all this mayhem. What wasn't a surprise though, was when the White Fang were the first to react to the situation by pointing all their guns directly at the webslinger.

* * *

 **(Present)**

The silence was palpable within the ruined warehouse as every single of Roman's goon and Faunus stared at Spider-Man. For the most part, everyone stayed in place as the White Fang slowly closed the circle around the webhead with his only action being to raise his hands to show he was surrendering.

' _Stay calm, Blake.'_ On instinct, she reached for her weapon that was not on her person. _'Damn it. Sun and I left our weapons outside...'_ She remembered.

Looking back to Spider-Man, Blake could only hope that whatever plan he has up his sleeve would be enough to turn this situation around.

' _No.'_ She shook her head to clear away her negative thoughts. _'If anyone can turn this situation as an advantage, it's Spider-Man.'_

"So..." Spider-Man tried to break the tension with his usual humor. "Some rally this is, I think the best part about it was me driving the Paladin. And that's it, really."

Raising their guns to fire, they were all stopped when Roman raised his hand to signal them all to standby.

"First, you stopped me from taking dust at the docks, now, you steal my Paladin, trash one of my secret hideouts, and yet you still continue to crack jokes?!" He angrily glared at the black uniformed webslinger.

"Uhh..." Spider-Man hesitantly used his right hand to scratch the back of his head. "I try not to at time likes this, but I just love hearing myself talk, you know?"

Roman's nostrils flared in irritation, slightly disappointed that the hero didn't even show a little shred of fear from so many guns pointed at the hero.

From everyone's perspective, it showed that not only Spider-Man is brave enough to stare death in the eyes, but also proved that he wasn't afraid of Roman or the White Fang, making all the recruits both scared that if they do join, they would be on the receiving end of Spider-Man's punches and in awe at how he was able to crack a joke while in the midst of mortal danger.

It was so absurd to see it in real life. Sure, they get gossip at how Spider-Man was always like this, but to see it in person made them feel like they were seeing something out of a comic book.

However, behind the webslinger's mask, they would see Jaune Arc sweat profusely as his eyes scanned for every possible ways to get out of this situation without causing any big problem.

' _Ok, over a dozen weapons all aimed at me and yet that isn't the least of my worries.'_ Moving his eyes to see beyond the Radical group, he sees Blake and Sun still wearing their masks with the rest of the recruits. _'I can dodge bullets with my eyes closed, I think I did try that one time actually, but that was thanks to my Spider-Sense, so I seriously doubt anyone in this place also has the power to sense life threatening danger like me.'_

Spider-Man had also taken into consideration that Blake and Sun were weaponless since they needed to act the part as normal recruits. Of course, if they did have their fancy weapons, then they would have already drawn them, create more damage, and then give the hero more problems to solve than answer.

' _Well, since I can't think of a way to escape this problem without endangering the lives of my friends and the Faunus, then I have no choice, but to do this…'_ Jaune opened his mouth.

"Hey, Roman." Spider-Man called out his so-called would-be-executioner. "I got to ask, do you pay your electric bill separately? I kind of broke the fuse box in your basement, so I was wondering why this entire warehouse isn't powering down."

"I'm a master criminal, and you think I actually still pay electricity bills?" Roman raised his eyebrow at the masked hero's random question. "If you're trying to stall time, then I might as well kil-"

"Yes or no?" Spider-Man asked again.

"Ready!" Roman ignored the wall-crawler's question.

"Yes or no!?"

"Aim!"

"YES. OR. N-"

"Oh, for the love of..." Roman couldn't hold his anger anymore and shouted his answer. "Yes! You annoying insect!"

"Pft, racist. Spiders aren't insects." Spider-Man spoke loud enough to make everyone in the room who were a Faunus to glare at the suit wearing human. "Also, thank you for telling me. Now I can do... this!"

Not giving Roman a chance to understand what he meant, Spider-Man hopped back inside the Paladin, turned it back on, and began to move the arms upward.

"Fire, you dumb animals!" Dropping his nice act from earlier, Roman pointed his cane at the Paladin and started to fire, followed by the White Fang assisting him on taking the machine down.

"Welp! Now you did it." Looking at the now powered up display screens, Spider-Man was able to see all the White Fang unleashing everything they had at the masked hero. "Since you couldn't think of another solution to escape without having the newbies get caught in the crossfire, what better way for all of them to escape _without_ getting hurt is for you to be a target, hmm...?"

Not planning on just taking hit after hit, Spider-Man fiddled with the control screen to find a way to speak through the Paladin. Luckily enough, the webhead was able to patch himself through and began to shout for his friends.

"Blake! Sun! Get every one of these guys out of here, now!?" He commanded.

Not arguing with what the hero had said, both teens took off their masks and started to herd the large group out of the warehouse. With all the White Fang more concerned with Spider-Man, it made it easier for the two Huntsmen trainees to lead them outside to safety.

"You brought your sidekicks too!?" Roman screamed with more anger for not noticing the same two punks he fought at the docks.

"We're not his sidekicks!" Sun corrected Roman's statement. "Totally blame the Bugle's fault for thinking that!"

"Focus!" Grabbing his arms, Blake pulled him to the exit but stopped halfway so she could turn around and showed her concern for the pinned hero. "What about you!? How are you going to get out!?"

"Don't worry!" Spider-Man pushed the right handle making the Paladin's right robot arm to knock away a few Fang soldiers who were foolish enough to get close to him. "Just go! Now!"

She was going to argue back, but the blonde Huntsman-in-Training got his turn to pull her arm and dragged her to the exit.

"They're finally gone..." The webhead breathed a sigh of relief. "But I'm not out of the woods yet."

Seeing that if he did try to get out and dodge all this heavy gunfire, it still wouldn't solve the fact that Roman would just cut his losses. Best answer as to how he would escape is to order all the White Fang to grab everything and leave nothing to chance.

"I need to leave a big enough scene where Roman can't cover all of this up, but how?" The black uniformed hero stayed silent for a bit until his mind finally caught up to where his body was currently sitting in. "Oh, duh, I'm literally piloting my answer." He went back to the controls.

' _I want to make as much of a ruckus that by the time I'm done, the police would be here to see what was going on and arrest them on the spot.'_

And if by chance Roman did try to pull as many strings as possible to let him off the hook and leave jail with no criminal charges somehow. It would still be impossible to try and attempt to weasel his way out, not with the mountain of evidence the wall crawler collected under the basement stacked against him.

"Finally," Spider-Man dripped the controls. "Hours of watching cartoons involving people controlling giant robots are about to pay off. Now, Showtime! Heh… always wanted to say that."

Moving the arms to get a feel around the robot, the White Fang became apprehensive when they started to see the Paladin make its first step. Most of them have seen what this machine can do in simulations, so when they saw it starting to go on the offensive, many ran back to find cover and readied themselves for what's to come.

That first step lasted only for a second when the giant machine of death fell face first, it's robotic limbs flailing around like a newborn child.

"Ok, so how do I get back up?" Spider-Man asked himself like falling in a killer, walking tank was a normal thing. "Just slowly get back up nice and easy. Man, It felt so much easier fumbling the controls then actually trying to pilot this thing. Makes me feel like a total amateur trying to learn the controls in a video game."

Putting the Paladin's arms to his side, Spider-Man pushed the arms forward making the machine rise just high enough to push his leg under him in a kneeling position. Not wasting such an opportunity, Roman grabbed the nearest White Fang member to task him out with an order that could take down the Paladin with Spider-Man still inside.

"Go get me one of the big guns, we should have some in one of the other storage rooms!"

"But that's our only Paladin!" The nameless Fang member argued. "We don't have any more because of what happened in Atlas!"

Not wanting to have an argument at a time like this, Roman pulled him close enough to see his eyes through the mask and repeated his order with more force.

"We'll get more! So, quit complaining and get. Me. A. BIG. GUN."

Pushing him away, Roman saw the masked man scurry out the room to retrieve the intended weapon while the remainder of the Fang continue to damage the robot.

Inside the cockpit, Spider-Man was finally able to get the mech on its feet and started to test the movements to make sure he won't fall again. Feeling more confident that he won't make the same mistake, Spider-Man began his attack by raising his leg and slammed it on the ground. The impact made long, spreading cracks followed by mild tremors that made some who were close by to fall on their butts.

Following it up on after the ground stomp, the web head raised the heavy mech arms over his head, pushed the controllers down, and like a heavy anvil falling both arms caused an even bigger tremor.

The force behind it caused too much strain on the floor to the point that small segments in the floor started to fall, showing the illegal firearms of the basement to the world. Even though Spider-Man should be worried about trying to find a way to leave, he at least wanted to make enough destruction good enough to reveal the hidden weapons cache underneath the building.

Small, pop up screens showing the different parts of the Paladin soon covered the main display, each one indicating what part was under heavy assault. It didn't stop there, however. As Spider-Man tried to push away the 'danger' and 'damage' screens, a familiar ringtone started to play in his pocket.

"Oh, you can't be serious right now." Spider-Man pulled his right hand free from the handle, reached in to the pocket of his suit, read the contact info of who's calling him, and pressed the 'answer' button.

"Hello?!" Jaune faked his excitement to hide his ever-growing dread at how this situation escalated to a blown-out mess.

 _"Jaune?"_ He heard a very familiar voice on the other side of the call. _"Are you there?"_

"Ruby!?" Jaune faked his enthusiasm. Not expecting to get a call from her while currently in a literal mech. "I'm surprised you knew my number."

' _How did you even_ get _my number? I seriously don't remember giving it to you.'_ He continued in his mind.

 _"W-well..."_ Ruby started to stutter. _"I know I didn't ask you the last time we met, not that I didn't want to! I mean-"_

Taking a slow, deep breath, Ruby spoke in a calmer manner to answer Jaune's question.

 _"Blake gave me your number after the docks fiasco. Don't worry, I made sure not to tell her that you told us where she was and that we found her thanks to the loud gunfight."_

' _Yeah, no longer a secret now, I kind of told her everything when she visited me again. Sorry, Ruby. But I'll just keep it to myself.'_

"But, I never gave her my number." Jaune said in confusion, all the while keeping a close eye on the status of how the Paladin was functioning. "How did she get it?"

" _How she got your number…? Well, she told us that she went to your house and got your number. She didn't tell us how, only that someone close to you gave it to her."_ The red hooded huntress explained.

"Aunt may..." The hero said under his breath. "Seriously, just because some girl visited the house to see me doesn't mean handing out my number will get me a girlfriend faster...!" He hissed.

' _I do hope it would, though. I really do…'_

 _"What did you say, Jaune? Something to do with an Aunt?"_

"Nothing! Just some static is all!" He said truthfully, using the static from the screen to give the impression that he had a bad signal. "So what can I help you with, Ruby? If you're asking when Mr. Macarren's shop opens tomorrow, you don't have to worry. I can let you in early, so you can get what you need."

 _"No, I'm sorry, but that isn't the reason I called. My team and I are trying to find where Blake went. Have you seen her? Or maybe, Sun? He has blonde hair like you, but he has a tail."_

"Sun?" He acted ignorant. Jaune didn't know if Blake mentioned her team about her going to the diner with Sun or not since that was the time when she assumed he was working with Spider-Man. So he decided the safe bet was to just pretend like this was the first time he heard that name. "Never seen the guy."

 _"Are you sure? You can't miss him, he wears shorts, a sleeveless button up shirt… six pack abs...?"_

"What was that last part?" Jaune couldn't catch what Ruby said due to him focusing more on what was in front of him.

 _"Nothing!"_ Ruby's voice had a slight hitch. _"Anyway, his partner, Neptune, is also trying to find him and we think he's helping Blake with finding Roman and the White Fang."_

"Seriously!?" Jaune continued to play the idiot. "No way! I thought you guys would work together!"

 _"That's what I thought, but she kept staying out late, starting to sleep in class, and she even started to be more distant with us."_ Hearing the hurt in Ruby's voice made Jaune consider telling her where Blake is now, unfortunately that thought was pushed aside when the alert sound from the Paladin became louder.

' _Dang it, Blake! I thought you wanted to actually stay friends with them! Not drive them away!'_

Jaune was going to voice his concerns but the display screen starts blaring warning signs to identify how much damage it was taking.

 _"Jaune, what's that noise?"_ The sound of the Paladin's system diagnosis was so loud that even Ruby was able to hear it through her scroll. _"I hear a lot of beeping."_

"That noise you're hearing..." Jaune saw in the front screen that the one who takes the most hits was the main body. Using his free arm, the blonde hero raised the robot's massive limb as a shield to absorb most of the shots. "I'm playing a game involving robots, I don't know the name of it, but I saw that it had good reviews. It's so realistic you actually feel like you're playing the real thing!"

He was also about to tell her false information to throw her and the rest of Ruby's team to a dead end, only pause when he saw something on the main screen that made him decide to hold off for a moment.

"Ruby, I've got to call you back later." Jaune said as he saw one of the Faunus holding what appears to be a large bazooka. "My Aunt just called me from downstairs and I need to help her. If I see them, I'll let you know. Goodbye!"

 _"Wait, Jaune!"_ Ruby was going to say more only for her call to be immediately hung up as the blonde spider quickly put his scroll back in his suit pocket and raised the controller to make the Paladin use its arm to block the incoming missile.

When the missile hit the forearm of the paladin, Spider-Man reeled back from the aftershock of the explosion. Thankfully, the machine's armor was sturdy enough for the recoil to be less severe. However, due to how much damage the paladin received head on a new screen showed the robot's energy being only at half capacity.

"Half empty!" Spider-Man tried to move the arm that was used as the shield, only for the screen to not recommend him on not using that limb. "It's not recommended because it'll consume more energy than using the less damaged one, huh? So, I have three good limbs and one bum one, not good, but I'm sure that I stalled enough time so that Blake could escort everyone out of here."

Spider-Sense flaring up to warn him of greater danger. The 17 year old teenaged hero saw the same Faunus who fired the first missile was starting to load in a second round.

"Ok, no time to think of any more ways to escape, it's time to bring this to an end." Going through all the buttons and switches in front of him, Spider-Man used the touchscreen to see what tools the Paladin has that can help him out.

"Here we go." Pressing the icon that said 'explosives', Spider-Man directed the Paladin to face the closest wall. Some of the White Fang members who was near it started to retreat out of fear for what was about to happen next. "Man, when J.J hears about what I did here today, he's going to have a field day when the next newspaper gets published."

Using the targeting system to aim, he pressed the button to launch a single explosive to the wall, causing it to explode and leave a huge hole.

' _Spider-Sense! I have to move!'_

Pressing his feet hard on the pedals, the Paladin reacted quick enough to move out of the way when the second round was fired. The problem was, when the missile impacted the floor, it caused parts of the ground and bits of the shrapnel to hit the back of the robot.

"Darn it!" Spider-Man saw the energy meter of the Paladin drop to 40 percent it's max capacity. "Actually, I think that was a good thing."

' _Since I'm leaving, I might as well do this!'_

Now, with an exit wide enough for him to swing out of there, Spider-Man moved the giant death machine to face the Fang and shot a web glob to press down on the pedals. With the robot now moving on its own, Spider-Man punched the hatch clean of its hinges, left the cockpit, and web swinged out of the warehouse, leaving both Roman and the White Fang to deal with an out of control robot.

Turning his head just in time to see the robot crash itself into another room, Spider-Man gave it a salute before disappearing into the night.

"Goodbye, cool robot. Rest easy, knowing the fact you just made a man's inner 10-year-old happy."

Spider-Man stopped producing another web and landed on top of a roof just across the street from where he left the Paladin to do his dirty work.

"Then again..." The webhead looked at the warehouse where he saw several White Fang members trying to either leave or tried to save most of the stolen dust they stole out of the ruined building. "I know it's going to take a couple of minutes for the police to arrive, even with all this commotion I stirred up, so how 'bout I make this easier and wrap this gift up for them in a bow?"

* * *

"Damn it!" Roman slammed the bottom of his cane out of fury for another scheme turned into another bust made by the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. "Get some bodies downstairs and save as much as you can! We can't afford to lose any of this when the deadline is so close!"

"We're trying our best, but thanks to Spider-Man destroying most of the floor, the debris caused a reaction to the dust!" One of the White Fang operators voiced his concern.

"I don't care if you guys have to throw your bodies to put out the fire down there! Just save as much as you can!" The Kingpin screamed out.

"And the Paladin?" The masked terrorist asked.

"It's only going in one direction," Roman stated. "Just focus on getting our merchandise out and move it to another safe house. By now, people have already called the police, so if we must leave some of our guys here to take the fall, then so be it!"

Nodding to what Roman said, the Faunus called out to some nearby Fang members to assist him on taking care of transporting the goods before the authorities arrive.

With one problem being taken care of, Roman pulled out his scroll to call his own goons that were stationed outside as watchmen.

"Pick up, pick up...!" Roman tapped his cane as his only visible sign of his nervousness. "I swear, if you guys don't answer in the next second, I'l-"

"Roman!" Another masked Faunus came up on him. "We have more bad news!"

"Yeah, I see that," Roman pointed his cane to see that the rogue Paladin is still running rampant. "Why is that thing still moving!"

"We're doing our best to get inside the cockpit."

"And why not just use another explosive round?" He argued.

"The floor is already destroyed, if we try another one on the robot the shockwave and the weight of the Paladin will cause the floor beneath us to collapse."

"And that's not the bad news!?" By now, Roman has started to lose his cool and showed his panic.

"No, it's not. We tried to contact our people from outside, but they haven't responded."

"Then go outside! I already told one of you animals to get the supplies out of here!"

Instead of getting angry from the racial insult due to his White Fang training giving him strong bearing or from fear of being arrested. The faunus informed Roman why they couldn't call for more help from the outside.

"We're trapped."

"…What?"

Taking a deep breath for the long explanation he was about to give, the White Fang soldier told Roman what they discovered outside.

"We thought that it was suspicious that they haven't responded from the distress happening inside, so we sent some of us to investigate."

Another sound of metal hitting concrete made both men cover their heads out of fear from the roof collapsing on top of them in any minute. A second or two passed and with the warehouse still standing, Roman looked over the masked terrorist's shoulder and saw the machine finally stopped moving.

' _Finally! One of these tools grew a set and hopped inside that thing!'_

"And what?" Roman asked, now able to hear again.

"We're trapped."

"I know that part!" The cigar smoking crime boss yelled. "Did, Spider-Man blocked our exits with dumpsters or our own vehicles? He made a big hole for crying out loud! Use that!"

"We're **_trapped_** , Roman." The Faunus put more emphasis when he said 'Trapped'. "Literally trapped from the outside. Just look at the destroyed wall and you'll see!"

Turning his head, Roman's eyes were wide to see the large man-made exit no longer a viable escape route. What was once a gaping like wound on the side of the warehouse was soon covered with spider webs.

' _Wait, what's covering the windows?'_

Not just looking at the web covered gap, Roman's eyes roamed at each window within the large gathering room to see that the web didn't just stop at where Spider-Man left.

Each window showed the web reach all around the warehouse, giving Roman the impression that this building was now completely encased in a cocoon.

Seeing the look Roman was making, the man also explained why they haven't tried to cut the webbing.

"We did cut most of it, but when we thought we were finished we encountered a wall of ice." Roman was about to say something, but the man continued to speak. "We chipped away and used some of the fire dust, but then we saw more webbing. By the time we try to get out the police would already be here and if we even try to use the explosives then we might be taking down more of the building."

' _So, either way, we're trapped.'_

Roman's body was now visibly shaking with rage. Having Spider-Man know about this was bad enough, but having Spider-Man make a mess of everything here was worse. His rage was so blinding that people around him started to back up in fear of being a target for his frustration.

They expected him to burst, to scream out and curse Spider-Man for ruining another plan, what came next surprised everyone within ear shot at what came out of his mouth.

"Anyone in that Paladin?"

No one answered his question, making Roman decided to find out for himself.

Walking in a fast pace, Roman climbed on top of the powered down walking tank and saw another nameless Faunus getting webbing off of the controls.

Not even letting the masked Faunus time to talk, Roman pulled him out of the cockpit, entered, and then promptly booted back the robot. What was the first thing shown to him on the powered-up screen was the status of the robot's energy only being at less than 35%.

Swiping the status off the screen, Roman checked to see what weapons were installed in thing, before doing another act of insanity.

Turning the robot back to where Spider-Man left, Roman fired another missile at the web covered hole. The force in the explosion caused the roof to start breaking off and hitting the already fragile floor making more debris. Not even fazed by making more of a mess, Roman walked forward out of the exit he made and was now outside Vale's cold night.

Moving the built-in cameras to survey the area, the screens caught sight of the one who made this web prison swinging away from the scene of the crime. Fist clenching the handles till his knuckles were white, Roman Torchwick had thought that he could at least take out his anger on the hero with the form of this robot.

Sensors picking up more movement, the bowler hat wearing crook spotted Spider-Man's sidekick and little red's teammate running back to their original location.

' _Probably thinking they could help Spider-Man.'_ A bulb soon lighted up in Roman's head, causing the crime boss to have a vindictive grin. "They don't need to help Spider-Man, since they'll help me instead."

Having the Paladin charge at the two Huntsmen, both teens had looks of panic before the black-haired girl shouted for her friend to follow her. Now, no longer running to the warehouse and instead running away from Roman, the cigar smoking convict soon laughed as his prey started to lead him into somewhere more populated.

"Run, little flies!" He screamed at he pushed the Paladin even faster, so it can motivate the two young Huntsmen to run faster. "Run! If Spider-Man can have all the fun controlling this thing, then why can't I!?"

Everything around him has spelled the end for him, so why not make this a night worth remembering?

* * *

"Blake!" Sun Shouted as he jumped from one roof top to the other alongside his fellow Huntsmen-in-Training. "I hope you have... I don't know! Some form of backup?! Hopefully one that involves dealing with a rampaging death machine!"

"Working on it!" The black-haired Faunus replied.

Looking behind her to see how far the Paladin was chasing them, Blake wracked her brain to see what options she has.

By the time they finished escorting all the recruits out of the rally. Both Huntsmen wasted no time in retrieving their weapons from where they met with Spider-Man and ran back to help him. When they returned, what they saw left of the building was wrapped in webbing and dust.

At first, she wanted to stay and search the area in case Spider-Man was here, but that idea was soon shot down when they saw the damaged Paladin burst out of the warehouse.

Now, no longer worried having thoughts of staying until the police arrived and more focused on running away from Roman. Blake ran all the options she could think of until she realized the only choice she has left.

' _I need to call for help.'_

Using one hand to grab her scroll, Blake's thumb was about to hit speed dial only for her to stop herself in the process.

' _I can't. If I call them now, then that would mean that the next time I try to investigate the White Fang, my team would also tag along.'_

It was true. Her friends would no doubt follow Blake into investigating why the White Fang are being more proactive alongside Roman. However, she also knows that if they do help her, then they would also be in danger just like her right now. That's why she decided not to tell her team about this rally, why she asked for outside help instead, she didn't want her team to get involved because she doesn't want to see them hurt.

' _I don't want to see them hurt because of me.'_

"My responsibility, not theirs." Putting away her scroll, Blake looked at Sun and spoke. "We need to split up. I'll be bait. Sun, you go-"

"Help! Neptune, we need help! Big robot and that Torchwick guys piloting it!" Sun screamed to his partner on his scroll, ignoring the glare Blake was giving him. "You with Yang!? Great! Tell her what's happening and call the rest of her team! Thanks! Don't worry, Blake! I called fo-HURP!"

Sun couldn't finish his sentence due to the cat Faunus wrapping her hands around his neck. And as Blake choked the life out of Sun, she didn't notice that where they were heading was the end of their roof jumping and straight down towards a busy highway.

* * *

 _"I'm sorry, but the number you have dialed is currently busy or unable to answer at this time. Please leave a message after the beep."_

 **(Beep)**

"Hey, Ruby! It's me, Jaune. I'm sorry for hanging up on you so suddenly. Please call me back as soon as possible. Thanks."

Hanging up his scroll, the spider-themed hero paced back and forth as he continue to stare at his new contact he labeled 'Ruby'.

Leaving the building in a thick layer of web and dust, the blonde arachnid wasted no time when trying to call back his friend.

"I expected to see her face to face either from the diner or at the dust shop, but I never saw her."

Like he told Blake, if he ever met Ruby again regarding where Blake went, he would lie and give false information. So far, Ruby has not shown up this afternoon or yesterday making Jaune assume she already has a lead and didn't need to help. Which is currently the hero is on top of a high apartment complex roof top continuously trying to call Ruby in hopes to find out where she is.

"Should I call again?" He asked himself, his thumb already on the call button. "The plan semi-worked. We caught Roman in the act, got the pictures on what he and the White Fang were doing, so it's only reasonable to answer her, right?"

' _I'll just call again, sound concerned, and ask where she is.'_ Pressing the call button, Jaune placed the scroll near his ear and listened for the dial tone to ring. "Pick up, pick up, pic-ugh!"

Dropping the scroll onto the floor he clutched his head at his Spider-Sense blared loudly in his skull.

"Ok." Feeling the pain slowly disappearing gave Spider-Man the time to pick up his scroll again. "Spider-Sense going haywire means trouble. Big. Trouble."

Doubling back to where he left Roman and the Fang, he was greeted to a sight of a hole he made with the paladin. What's even worse, he also saw the White fang peddling out all their equipment before the police arrive.

"I have to get down there!" Raising his arm to shoot a web line, Spider-Man stopped mid motion. "Wait a minute, somethings missing here."

Looking at what's in front of him, Spider-Man's eyes widened at what was no longer where he left it.

"Where's the Paladin?" Giving his mind to think of an answer, his brain answered it by also giving him another question. "Where's Roman!?"

Again, the wallcrawler was hit by another painful stab from his Spider-Sense, only this time, it felt sharper rather than smothering his brain the first time.

"Duh, big hole, no Paladin, no Roman, and Spider-Sense going off the charts. He must be using it, but wh-" Spider-Man slapped the side of his head out of stupidity for not even figuring out who Roman's chasing.

"Blake!" Jaune widened his eyes.

' _She must've decided to come back and help, but instead, she's the one needing the assistance.'_ The 17 year old looked at the masked terrorists down below. _'but I can't just leave the Fang with all this stuff...'_

Close by, Spider-Man could hear faint crashing just a few streets away from where he's standing.

"...Right." Having already made his mind, Spider-Man followed where his Spider-Sense was leading to Roman and leaving the White Fang to themselves. "I can catch them next time, what's more important is to make sure Roman doesn't do any more harm in the kingdom!"

Body already reacting to the problem, the webhead used his danger sense to lead him towards Roman's trail of destruction.

"Well, don't need to follow a Spider-Sense when I literally see massive footprints." Eyes going wide, he let go of his webs and landed in a crouch. "This isn't good."

In front of him was a sports car that crashed into a light post, moving his eyes back to the road he could see streak marks caused by the same car.

"He must have moved just before Roman could step on him." His deduction was cut off when he heard a sound coming from the car. "I have to get him out, if his injuries are serious, then I have to hurry before it gets worse."

Grabbing the driver's front door, he applied some of his super strength to pull the car door open. Looking at the injured man for any other notable wounds, Spider-Man looked to see if there were any other passengers in the vehicle.

"No one else here," Unhooking the belt off the man, the young hero gently scooped the adult out of his seat and laid him a few feet away from his car. "You don't look like you have any serious problems, but don't take advice from a guy wearing spandex if you know what's good for you."

"Ugh…" Stirring from the noise, the man's eyes cracked open. "W-who are you?"

Not surprised that he wouldn't recognize him in his new costume, the black masked spider placed his hand on his shoulder to stop him from getting up.

"I know that my appearance is different, but I'm still the same ole' Spider-Man, see?" Spider-Man showed his back where his signature spider symbol was placed. "But enough about me, are you in any pain?"

Closing his eyes to remember, the adult opened his eyes revealing his once unfocused eyes were finally starting to adjust.

"The roads had barely any cars on it, so I wasn't paying much attention," He said honestly. "I was just texting my girl that I'll be home, when suddenly I felt tremors."

' _The Paladin. Also, karma, but still, the Paladin!'_

"I looked up and I saw this giant robot, I turned the wheel to move out of the way and then, before I realized it, I was heading to a light post and crashed."

"Do you have your scroll, with you?" When the man pointed at the crashed car the black suited hero rushed back in the vehicle to obtain it. "It's not broken, so can you call for the police? I know this must be a lot to take in, but please, I can only do so much and people with real medical help goes a long way."

Looking between his scroll and the masked vigilante, the man made his answer when he dialed the number and requested immediate help.

"There." He placed the scroll on his chest. "It's done, but you'll need to hurry, especially where that thing is heading."

Pointing a finger to where his detestation was heading, Spider-Man's eyes followed it until he instantly shot back up in his feet.

"When I was heading home, I turned on the radio to tell me if it was busy or not."

"You've got to be kidding me!" The wall crawler growled. "Roman, you've seriously gone off the deep end."

"After the crash, I at least had my eyes open the see the Paladin head to the highway." By the time the wounded man explained where he last saw the rampaging robot, Spider-Man had already left him, determined to get there as fast as possible before nobody else can get hurt.

"Got to hurry, got to hurry...!" He muttered as he weaved through more buildings. "There!"

Webbing higher in the air, Spider-Man spotted Blake and Sun jumping off roof after roof of cars with Roman hot on their trails. Seeing Blake and Sun didn't surprise him being there, what did was Blake's partner, Yang, trailing behind Roman with Neptune trying his best to stay on the bike.

"No time to web swing down there." Letting go of his line, he dived head first straight to where the action is. "I'm not gonna make it!"

' _Please, please, please...!'_ He said over and over in his head. "Let me make it!"

As if not answering his prayers, what he feared most came true when Roman decided to make it even worse for Spider-Man by pushing all the cars away. Some of the cars were lucky enough that the energy walls held true and stopped them from falling, that couldn't be said when more cars piled up overloading the wall to the point where it faded away.

Jaune widened his eyes. **"** **NO!"**

Veering off course, Spider-Man passed the highway where the action was taking place, shot a web line to slow his decent, and swung himself to be underneath the bridge.

At what he saw, he didn't know whether or not if the Spider-Sense was the one screaming to him of danger or all the fearful faces shown on each different car that was plummeting to their doom.

* * *

"Ruby, I'm in position!" Weiss screamed as she jumped off the road that was above where Blake and Sun were running away from the Paladin.

With the help of her aura taking the full brunt of the force of the landing, Weiss turned around to face the machine that was heading straight towards her.

' _Now!'_

Raising her weapon, the white-haired Huntress turned the dial inside the hilt, stabbed the blade half way in the road, and soon a circle of ice started to form around her.

Unable to stop the Paladin, Roman did his best to stay upright as he slid on the ice and crashed into the highways energy safety net. The momentum and weight of the machine was too much for the safety system, making the energy wall flicker until it faded away.

Knowing what's to come, Roman braced for the fall as the Paladin fell over and landed all the way down to Vale's main road. Seeing as her part was done, the young heiress lifted her rapier out of the highway cement, jumped off to where the Paladin fell, and landed right in front of it as it started to get back on its feet.

As she readied her weapon for the fight in front of her, she looked to her right to see her partner, Ruby, followed by the rest of her team dropping in with their weapons at the ready.

"Blake, we're 'gonna have a long talk after this." Yang said, her eyes flashing red then turned back to her usual lilac color.

"I'm sorry," Her cat ears flattened. "I thought that with the help of Spider-Man, I could have captured Roman without having this be escalated any further."

"Oh, yeah!? Well look how that turned out?" Weiss seethed. "Where's the man of the hour, anyway?"

"The last time I saw him was when he was piloting that Paladin as a distraction." She continued to speak while at the same time keeping her eyes trained on the robot. "After Sun and I escaped with the rest of the recruits, we ran back and… well, you know the rest."

"Spider-Man wasn't with you?" Ruby said in disappointment. "I thought he would be here by now, helping us!"

"Humpf! Knew he wouldn't be reliable. We have to do this on our own, we can handle Roman without Spider-Man." The Schnee readied her rapier.

* * *

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, Spider-Man!" A mother of three kissed the masked hero's cheek as he pulled her car that was dangling over the highway.

"No problem, ma'am." He grunted as with one final pull the van was now on the road with only some damages. "Just make sure you call for help and stay put, so the medics can tend to you."

Giving the hero one last kiss on the cheek, the mother led her kids back in the car and as the hero saw the mom pull out her scroll to dial for help he went back to what was in front of him.

Or to be more correct, what's below him.

"Hold on!" He screamed as he jumped off the highway bridge and web swinged to the next car that was suspended in mid wear. "Don't worry, your safe now."

It happened so fast if anyone else was watching the devastation. Teens jumping from car to car and making drivers swerve out of control, a giant robot appearing out of nowhere, and what's worst of all was the destruction it made as it violently pushed everyone away. Drivers who were pushed off the highway as if they were nothing only screamed as their life flashed before their eyes. Truly, if anyone could see this event unfold, they would use the word devastating to explain it. People would even doubt that Huntsmen couldn't save so many falling civilians in such a short amount of time.

That can't be said for the Amazing Spider-Man.

 ** _(TWIP! FWIP! TWIP! FWIP! TWIP! FWIP! TWIP! FWIP! TWIP! FWIP! TWIP! FWIP! TWIP! FWIP! TWIP! TWIP! FWIP! TWIP! FWIP! TWIP! FWIP! TWIP! FWIP! TWIP! FWIP! TWIP! FWIP! TWIP! FWIP! TWIP! FWIP! TWIP! FWIP! TWIP! FWIP! TWIP! FWIP! TWIP! FWIP! TWIP! FWIP! TWIP! FWIP! TWIP! FWIP! TWIP! FWIP! TWIP! FWIP! TWIP! FWIP! TWIP! FWIP! TWIP! FWIP! TWIP! FWIP! TWIP! FWIP! TWIP!)_**

From the scene that played out It was like the hero was a blur, shooting web and dust at each car. In the eyes of Spider-Man, what's in front of him wasn't cars falling fast to their destruction, instead, everything around him was slowing down, giving him time to look around and see what's the best way to keep everyone alive. His Spider-Sense and quick reflexes helped him by quickly launching spider web after spider web. Each web line connected to a car and on the other end was the highway's edge that was also shot with Spider-Man's extra strength webbing to make sure the line would hold just long enough for him to rescue someone.

"Come on!" Spider-Man grabbed the driver's hand. "I'm not gonna let you fall!"

Trusting the hero, he wrapped his arms around the hero's neck and clung on tight as said hero swung back up top to drop the civilian off.

"You good, dude?" He received a nod as an answer. "Cool, don't worry about your ride, I'll get it when I'm done!"

Doing the same process again and again, the hero's body count of people that was saved have now reached the double digits. Each one giving them their heart felt gratitude for being saved, with some even helping him by carrying the ones who were gravely injured.

It seemed that the danger was getting less and less worse with each on saved, but as he continued to web swing to another car his vision was soon obscured by some thick mist.

* * *

 **(A few moments earlier)**

The young leader of the team was going to say something about Weiss' disdain for her hero, but Ruby had more pressing matters in the form of Roman controlling the robot.

Now, with the problem literally walking towards them, the all-girl team set aside their squabbling and set their sights on taking Roman down.

"Freezer burn!" Ruby ordered and instantly her team executed the maneuver flawlessly.

The attack combo started with Weiss performing the same move that off balanced the machine. As ice formed around the ice queen, Yang jumped into the air and shot a round of fire dust directly below her. Fire met ice and as the shot reached the ice encased floor, the reaction that followed was mist blanketing the area.

"Grr!" Pressing one of the button, Roman activated the machines laser targeting systems to compensate for his lack of vision. Not waiting for the teen Huntsmen to attack, the crime boss moved forward cautiously as he scanned for any signs of movement.

He didn't have to wait for long as his scanner picked up multiple bogies from his front. Aiming his guns to where his scans showed, Roman heard a few more beeps from his scanner, making it not just his front, but also to his sides.

Moving his camera to where his scans last spotted them, Roman decided to fire a few pot shots to see if he's able to hit one of them. Lucky for him, he was able to hit one of them with an electric discharge and knocking the blonde Huntress off her feet. His small victory was cut short as Ruby charge straight at him and used her scythe to knock him back and stun him momentarily.

"Checkmate!" Ruby shouted, as both her partner and Blake emerged out of the fog and continued to press the attack.

With the fog obscuring Roman's vision and giving RWBY an edge on stealth, the team's plan did tip their odds of victory in their favor.

It could not be said for the webhead, however. As the fog started to rise to not only blinded Spider-Man, but the entire intersection as well.

* * *

' _The forecast didn't tell me instant fog would roll up. Someone better fire the weather report-Danger in front of me!'_

"Whoaaa!" Letting go of his web lines, Spider-Man turned his body in midair as he dodged one of the suspended cars. When he passed the metal death trap, he immediately shot another web line to continue his motion to move forward.

Climbing with the same web line, Spider-Man stuck himself underneath the road and surveyed what's below him. What he saw, or more precisely couldn't see, was a dense fog engulfing the area making it harder for him to see what's in front of him.

"As if this would stop me." Letting go, the black uniformed hero used his Spider-Sense to guide him away from harm as he weaved passed empty cars after cars. "Hello!? Anyone else need help around here?!"

Not getting any response, Spider-Man landed on to one of the empty vehicles to try and use his Spider-Sense to pick up any distress.

"Ugh." The spider hero clutched the side of his head with one of his hand. "Opening up my mind to push my Spider-Sense is starting to hurt, but I can't stop. I just need to keep pushing it until more help arrives."

Spider-Man's ability to sense danger was not picking up on anything from the cars and made the hero move back up to the highway and see if his Spider-Sense could pick up anything that needs his attention.

Just as he landed on the road, Spider-Man could see that the fog floated high enough to cover the highway. The people who stayed to tend to others started to talk amongst themselves about what's happening. With others beginning to panic out of fear for some random attack, Spider-Man did his best to ease their fear, only for the back of his skull to start tingling.

' _It's picking up something, but not from the cars below.'_ Following his Spider-Sense on foot, the young hero felt his sense getting stronger and stronger, making him start running even faster. _'I'm almost there, just need to pick up the-'_

"Pace!" The webhead shouted as he slid. His Spider-Sense was more focused on the bigger danger that he completely didn't notice the ice floor underneath him. "Woah! Woah! Woah!"

Doing his best to stay on his two feet, Spider-Man used his adhesive skin to slow himself down. Now, no longer having to be worried about face planting, the wallcrawler now saw himself not only lost in the fog, but also now on top of some man-made ice.

"I'm gonna put out a limb and say my Spider-Sense was picking up this as the danger. Need to be more careful, just because I can sense danger doesn't mean it gives me the excuse to drop my guard." The masked hero adjust his footing.

' _This ice isn't gonna melt itself, if help does arrive, then there could be a chance they might go through here.'_

Reaching in to grab some fire web cartridges from his belt, he replaced the extra strength webbing from his web shooters and inserted a fresh set. Pointing down at the ice, he fired one glob of web fluid on to the floor. After the web shot hit the floor, the dust inside the web soon reacted, causing the web ball to ignite and melt the floor.

"It's working, but one isn't going be enough." Shooting an organic web line above him, Spider-Man secured both his feet onto the line and was now hanging upside down. "I'm making it worse with all this fog, but this ice won't be going anywhere unless I do something about it."

Firing a volley of fire dust webbing to melt the ice, Spider-Man's vision became harder to see as more and more mist was being produced. He knew that this will make it harder for everyone else, but he also knew that if there was a chance that the ambulance will arrive, then he doesn't want them to come across this obstacle.

' _I think that should do it.'_ Dropping down from his vantage point, Spider-Man looked below his feet to see the cement was now no longer covered in ice. "Good. This should be enough to melt, but my Spidey-Sense is still telling me something's not right..."

' _Don't want to risk it, I need to follow it and see where it takes me.'_

Running to where his danger sense is taking him he found some tire tracks, revealing to Spider-Man that someone must have drove through the ice. Now, having a good idea of what happened, Spider-Man followed where the tracks were leading him and found a car tittering on the edge of the highway bridge.

Legs pushing him to move faster, the webhead reached for the driver seat to see if the man was unharmed.

' _From the looks of the damages, it seemed the car's front window was shattered from the crash.'_

Reaching the driver's side door to help the stranger, what stopped him was that the door was still locked from the inside.

' _Should I wake him up...?'_ He asked himself. _'No, I don't want him to panic and move the car.'_

"Sorry, sir." Spider-Man apologized and placed his palm on the car window. "Hope your insurance covers this."

Pushing his palm flat on the window he lightly pushed the window forward just enough for it to break and not shatter into tiny pieces. Now, that it was loose enough, Spider-Man pulled the window back and ripped it from the door frame. Tossing the window aside, he unlocked the car door from the inside, opened the door, and secured the man out of his car and onto the floor.

"I don't see much damage," He tilted the man's head. "Only some small cuts from the glass breaking, but hopefully he'll make a fast recovery."

From the sudden movement of his head, the man's eyes started to flutter open and shifted his gaze on to the masked man.

"Hey, don't panic." Spider-Man raised his hands to show he wasn't here to harm him. "You were out cold after you slipped on the ice."

' _Spider-S_ _ense still tingling, must be more nearby.'_

"Are you ok by yourself? Is there anything else wrong?"

"Y-yeah, I think I'll survive." He touched his head and flinched when his fingers brushed against the cut on his head. "I don't know what happened after that crazy chick did something to the road. And as I was driving with my k-" Not finishing what he transpired, the victim of the accident moved his head to see of anyone else was next to him. Eyes now wide open, the adult got back up in his feet and ran to his car.

"My kid is still in there!" He shouted.

' _Of course, he has a kid, it wouldn't be that easy.'_

"Wait, sir!" Not saying anymore, the back of Spider-Man's skull soon stabbed him with a warning of danger. Head moving automatically at where the pain was showing him, the eyes underneath his mask widened when he saw plumes of fire heading his way.

* * *

 ** _(BOOOM)_**

A large line of explosions rang throughout the highway as Blake cut each one thanks to the boost in speed from Weiss.

"Ladybug!" Ruby shouted as she used her speed Semblance to close the distance between herself and Roman. Adding more speed, the redhead fired her weapon, causing her to zip past the Paladin's legs and fired a second one to double the damage she inflicted as she hit the right leg.

Roman was going to turn around and kick the annoying girl away, only for him to stumble as Blake also joined in and started to do the same. Red and black blurs continue to hack at the legs and when Roman had time to throw them aside with an electric discharge from his arms they vanished.

Confused, Roman heard the monitor beep signaling him to look above him. Moving the cameras to see what's above him, Roman saw both Blake and Ruby dive straight at him. Aiming the guns to fire, the crime boss pressed the trigger, but the controls were unresponsive. Unable to defend himself, both Huntresses slashed their weapons downward, cutting off the left arm in the process.

* * *

"Waaah!" The man shouted as he was knocked off his feet by the wave of hot air.

Reacting to the man's distress, Spider-Man fired two web lines to pull back. Catching the man securely with both arms, the arachnid placed the adult behind him and ran towards the car.

Too bad that since the explosion was in a line, not only did it cause the car to move, but it also caused the highways bridge security walls to falter. The blast wave was also strong enough to knock one of the metal railings off its hinges and blown it right across the highway. Body moving instinctively, Spider-Man raised both of his hands to brace for the hit.

"Gah!" Pushed back by the force, the wall crawler pushed it aside and raised his hands. "You've got to be kidding me!"

His left arm was still intact from the blow, but that couldn't be said for the right arm however, as the web shooter around his wrist was damaged from the impact.

' _Come on, Remnant. Give the hero a break, would you? I had these things special ordered!'_

Thoughts of the lien that he needs were gone the next second when he focused back on the car still tittering on destruction. Not wanting the car to flip like a domino, Spider-Man shot two web lines on the front bumper of the car, pulled, and the front of the automobile's tires lurched forward.

"Ugh!" He grunted from the sudden sharp pain in his right wrist.

Letting go of the car, the hero let out a sigh of relief for making it on time. Crisis now averted, Spider-Man used his spare time to check what caused him to wince in pain when he fired his organic webbing. Expecting to see his wrist launcher dented, what he stumbled upon when inspecting it was that the side that took most of the force snapped. Both halves were now digging deep in Spider-Man's wrist, even bleeding thanks to the sudden pressure it withstood after he pulled the heavy car.

"Don't worry about that now. Just focus on getting the-WOAH! WOAH!"

* * *

"Of all the rotten-" Soon after the attack, he was surprised yet again when the back of the Paladin started to show signs of being attacked.

Looking back at the screen, it appeared that the blonde decided to grow ballsy and jumped on the machines back. Wanting to get rid of her, the ginger-haired crook reversed the Paladin aiming to pin her between the metal robot and one of the stone columns.

The force behind it shattered the pillar and made the buxom blonde let go of the robot. Not wasting the chance, Roman pressed a switch on the controls making the Paladin's machine gun arm be replaced it a hand. Turning around to see Yang still in midair, the crime lord reared back the metal fist and punched the blonde hard enough that she crashed into another cement pillar.

* * *

"The dang road is shaking!" He made sure to push his feet harder in the cement to anchor himself. "No, the car!"

Seeing the vehicle beginning to roll to the edge, Spider-Man released his foothold on the floor and ran to stop the car. Not wanting to hurt himself more and use his webbing, the hero reached for the front bumper and put so much strength into his fingers that it caused hand indents on it. Ignoring the mild pain just a little bit longer he looked through the front window to see if the man's child was still alive.

Looking past the front seats, he saw a small child. Five, he assumed, still buckled up in his seat with the only indication of injury was a small gash on his head.

' _It looks like that's the only thing he has as an injury, but he should have been awake by now. Those explosions would have been enough for that. He must be in a more serious condition, got to hurry up and get him out.'_

Stopping the car from falling and with his grip holding tight, the all black suited superhero moved his right leg back and then did the same with his left. One leg after the other, each movement causing the broken car to move away from the edge, all the while making sure to put more concentration on his footing.

That concentration was wasted, however, when his Spider-Sense told him that danger was still nearby. Confused that his senses that danger was coming, Spider-Man looked all around him and saw no explosions or any other threats.

' _My Spider-Sense helps me by letting me know danger is coming, but with so much on my plate I don't know where or when it's going to hit!'_

"Uh?" Feeling a tremor underneath, he looked down to his feet and saw a crack. Soon, that crack grew longer and larger, splitting the road into small pieces. "No!"

Thinking on his feet, as both he and the car were falling, Spider-Man placed a web line to the car with the other end attached to the part of the road still intact. Now, with an anchor made, he wasted no time as he broke the back window and entered the car.

"HELP!" Spider-Man heard the wails of the young child.

' _Did the explosion finally wake him up or was it the sudden fall? Got to calm him down, so he won't make too much movement in the car.'_

"Hey!" He said cheerfully as he appeared next to the kid. "Don't worry, I'm here to-"

"AHH!" The kid screamed louder at the site of some stranger with a black mask with bright white eyes. "Go away! Dad! Help!"

' _Duh, forgot most people don't recognize me wearing this new suit of mine. I mean, even I was intimidated when I first saw this thing in my attic.'_

The young kid continued to scream and flail as the sudden movements made the car shake. Spider-Man knew that his web line can hold the car, he done so several minutes ago when he caught the cars that were pushed off from the Paladin. What he was more afraid about was because with so much flailing around, the car would definitely start to move and by doing so much movement, it would cause the highway that was being used to hold them to break.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Spider-Man reached for his mask and showed the boy his face. "See? I'm not going to hurt you. It's just a mask, see?"

Jaune showed the boy his mask as a sign of trust. Looking between Jaune and the mask, the child soon calmed down after seeing that he was no longer in danger.

"You want to hold it?" Jaune asked the kid. Curiosity replacing fear, the boy nodded his head to confirm that he wanted to hold Jaune's mask. "Here."

Handing his mask over to the kid, the unmasked hero could no longer feel the car moving erratically. Seeing that he was on the right direction, Jaune decided to get the boy to trust him more by asking him some questions.

"What's your name?" Jaune asked. Before could answer Jaune's question the blonde spider saw his school back behind his chair with his name. "Jack?"

Hearing his name, Jack turned his head to the teen and nodded his head. "Yeah."

"Ok, Jack." He smiled. "Let's get you out of here. Just hold still, ok?"

Moving closer to the boy while being mindful of how much the car was swaying, the unmasked spider reached over to unlatch the seat belt.

"I'm about to unhook your seat belt, Jack." Jaune warned him. "1…2….3!"

Pressing the button quickly the seat belt flew out of its lock and was no longer securing Jack to his seat. No longer having anything to hold him down, Jack fell out of his seat and was caught by Jaune securing an arm around the boy.

"See? No problems, you did a good job!"

"Yeah." Jack smiled, no longer feeling afraid for the predicament he's in. "Is my dad ok?"

"Yeah, he's fine." Being reminded about his dad, Jaune looked over Jack's head to see if any other damages was seen. "That cut on your head looks bad, Jack. Let' hurry up and get you to-W-woah!"

' _Why is it still shaking?!'_

Looking out the window, the blonde teen saw that two of the pillars that keep this highway stable were destroyed. They weren't far apart either, both were next to each other and since they no longer keeping this section of the road up it was only a matter of time before it would start collapsing due to its own weight.

' _Guess all the moving just sped up the process. I need to get him out. NOW!'_

Turning back to where he entered, with Jack still wrapped secured under his arm, Jaune attempted to grab hold of the web line to escape. Grabbing the line, he pulled himself out of the car with one arm with Jack now in safe hands.

' _It's going to be a challenge to climb with my bum hand, but at this point I'm already out of options.'_

Slowly climbing back all the way to the top, Jaune was about to tell Jack to not look down when suddenly he felt the web line become lax.

' _That's not a good sign.'_

Looking up, the blonde could see that the web line was no longer attached to the road bridge. Rather, the piece that was attached to the web line was now falling towards them. Letting go of the line, he aimed to fire a new line only for the large piece of debris blocking his view.

' _The same piece I used to keep us from falling!'_

"Guh!" The cement piece clipped his left temple. The impact couldn't knock him out, he tensed his body to withstand the impact of the blow. However, for a moment that it collided with his head, the young hero's hold on Jack loosened, and with gravity in play Jack fell out of Spider-Man's hold and landed back inside the car.

"Jack!"

No longer having a stable surface to anchor himself with the car anymore. Losing his grip from the surprise fall, the wall crawler quickly went into action. Still falling, with gravity now in effect he was left helpless as he saw the car shift its weight to have the front be the first to hit the cement.

Automatically, Jaune shot a web line to the car and aimed his other arm to the highway.

' _Got no choice.'_ He took a deep breath. _'It's only going to hurt for a minute. It's only going to hurt for a minute. It's only going to hurt for a minute…'_

Having left with no other option but to eject one web line to the part where the highway was still together he braced for what's to come. Spider-Man tensed his body as soon as both lines were taught and when his body registered the pain in his injured arm he screamed.

"Graaah!" The hold he had on the car was still tight like a vice, daring not to submit to the pain as more circulation in his bleeding wrist continue to trickle down. "Jack! Are you ok?"

"Y-yes." He heard a faint answer coming inside the vehicle.

"Just hang on, Jack." He grunted when a breeze passed through them, his cracked web shooter continuing to cut into his wound. "I-I'm going to think of… s-something."

' _Come on, you need to think! You're just bleeding, I'm sure it's not as bad as is looks.'_ The young spider shook his head violently to stop his head from spinning. _'Ok, maybe I'm lying to myself. With all this non-stop rescue, opening my mind to allow my Spider-Sense to take control, and the blood continuing to leak out of my arm. I'm almost certain that what's pushing me now is pure adrenaline.'_

In a vain attempt to see if he can lift himself and the car with the result ending the same with him letting out more blood.

"Come on!" He tried again out of desperation. "Jack, I need you to climb buddy!"

"What?!"

"I need you to climb," A buzz from his head started to get louder and louder. "Times ticking, and I'm not sure how long before another piece breaks off."

"O-ok," Finding courage with in him, Jack climbed passed the car seats and headed to back of his family's ride. "I'm almost there!"

"That's great, buddy!" Jaune flashed a smile to show Jack he shouldn't worry. _'Now, if the dang wind can stop, then maybe it wouldn't be so hard to hold!'_

Finally, as if giving him a break, the wind died down leaving him time to concentrate on holding the car in place for Jack to get out.

"Thank you." He whispered out loud. "Thank you."

Now, with no more wind, Jaune's blood-soaked web shooter started to drip from his wrist and on to the car. That same blood, laced with the dust from his broken cartridge trickled down to the side of the car where the gas cap was located.

 ** _(FWOOSH)_**

The fire dust within Jaune's blood ignited the gas in the car, erupting into a fire that started to cover the car.

' ** _I. HATE. YOU. WEBSHOOTERS!'_**

"AAHHH!" Surprised by the fire, Jack fell back to and landed on the back of the from seat.

No longer was he worried about just falling, the hero began to lose his cool and started to pull the web again.

' _Dang it, it's no use. My arm is almost numb and if I continue I'll start losing all feeling in it and drop the car. It's all up to Jack now.'_

"Jack, you need to climb again!" Jaune told him. "The fire is going to get worse if you don't."

"I can't!" No longer having the strength to move, Jack's eye started to water. "I'm scared!"

"Yes, you can!" Jack's eyes began to shed tears. Either due to fear or the smoke, Jaune couldn't tell. _'If it's not one things, it's the other! Come one, 'hero', use your brain!'!_

Racking his mind to think of a way to get him out, his eyes landed on the only answer being his mask that was still held in the little boy's hand.

"The mask!" He said to Jack. "Put it on, the mask can help you breathe through the smoke!"

Looking at Jaune's mask, Jack placed the mask over his head and looked back at Jaune.

"There you go, Jack. Now, climb!"

Following the hero's order, Jack started to climb again. The smoke seeped into the car, but thanks to the mask it helped Jack breath as he slowly made it to Spider-Man.

"Just a small favor, Jack." The sound of metal bending made the web head worry. "Just climb a little bit faster, buddy!"

Finally reaching his destination, Jack raised his hand to reach for the rescue web.

 ** _(SNAP)_**

Just has the hero feared, the bumper that the web was clinging to couldn't hold out anymore. It snapped off from the rest of the car leaving the rest of it, including Jack, to fall.

"No!" Pushing his body just a little bit more, Jaune aimed his bleeding hand straight at Jack. **_'Please, don't miss!'_**

 ** _(TWIP)_**

With pinpoint accuracy even that even Ruby would be impressed with, Spider-Man's web line rescued Jack before the car could hit the ground. Letting go of his breath he didn't know he was holding, Spider-Man used as much strength as he could to help Jack climb the web line. Thankfully, he wasn't dealing with a 4,000-pound car, so helping Jack climb up the web line with one arm wasn't a hassle.

"Hang on tight, Jack." He said as Jack wrapped his arms tightly around his neck. "I'm sure your dad's worried sick about you."

"Wait," Still wearing the mask, Jack used one arm to remove Jaune's mask. Placing an arm around Jack, the young boy helped Jaune put his mask on, so he can look like Spider-Man again. "It looks better on you."

* * *

"RAAAAAH!" Yang delivered a devastating punch to the Paladin. After her semblance was activated via pain, the blonde boxer immediately went to work and started pummeling the giant tin can. With the help of her team backing her up they made quick work of fighting the Paladin.

And with the decisive blow being Yang's strength multiplier at work, the machine was no longer whole as it fell into pieces. Within the rummage, Roman sailed in the air a good distance before he landed on his back on the hard cement floor.

"Just got this thing cleaned." Roman picked himself up and dusted his coat. "Oh well, guess indulging myself in a little bit of mayhem was not my brightest idea."

' _Speaking about mayhem...'_

Looking back at his opponents, roman saw that Yang fired a dust round straight at him. Getting ready to be sent flying yet again, he was saved when his trusty bodyguard, Neo, jumped in and shield them with her parasol.

"Nice of you to finally drop by." He grumbled. "Where they heck were you by the way?"

Moving her head to look at her boss, Neo gave him a small smile and used her left hand to point up. No longer worried about dealing with four brats now that Neo was around, Roman looked above where Neo was pointing at.

"Well now," Roman smiled, no longer regretting his decision for using the Paladin. "This will be entertaining when the news shows this."

' _For now, though…'_

Looking in front of him to see all four girls standing next to each other, Roman gave his usual rouge smirk and waved goodbye.

"Ladies." He paused to look at Weiss. "Ice Queen."

"Hey!" She dropped her usual stoic mask and glared at the master thief.

"Neo, if you would." Tipping his hat to leave the exit plan to her, Roman last image he saw was Yang charging straight at them before seeing nothing but glass shatter.

His view point was no longer on the ground, rather in the air thanks to Neo's semblance allowing them a clean getaway.

"That was fun, remind me again to take a joy ride in another of Atlas' toys." Roman said to Neo.

The mute girl made a few hand gestures in front of Roman.

"Of course, of course," He understood what she said. "Wouldn't want you to miss all the fun, speaking about fun."

Looking out of the Bullhead, Roman had a bird's eye view of all the damage he and those girls committed on the busy highway. Cars strewn about, people limping out of their wrecks, with some laying down in the road. Yet, out of all the carnage and destruction that they brought, Spider-Man somehow still curved the disaster from getting any worse. He expected more bodies, but somehow most of the people were left with scrapes and bruises, some of the cars he tossed aside were still hanging on the road with the drivers out of their car and on the road.

Roman could even see ambulance and police car lights in the distance, far faster then what he thought would take some time before his fight could finish. It surprised him that when he was fighting those pastel colored teenagers, Spider-Man did all this by himself.

Which is why it made it even more satisfying when the thought of what transpired here will be soon revealed tomorrow.

"Neo, I never once thought I would say this." He said in complete honesty that Neo herself raised an eyebrow in surprise. "But, I can't wait to watch the news."

"So, I guess Roman got a new henchman." Yang looked up, her red eyes replaced with lilac once more, as she saw the Bullhead fly away with their target in tow.

"Yeah, I guess she made our plans…." She paused. "Fall apart?"

"Snrk!" Ruby held her laughter as her partner's blatant attempt at humor.

"No," Blake gave the heiress a flat stare. "Just, no."

"What?!" She looked back at their resident jokester. "But, you do it!"

"There's a time and a place for Jokes." Yang placed bother her hand on her hips and lectured Weiss.

"Was this not it?" She said in confusion.

"No," Yang walked away from Weiss. "It just wasn't any good."

"Well, at least I'm trying!" She argued as she and Ruby followed the rest of her team.

"Wait," The youngest in the team stopped the rest of the girls. "Where are Sun and Neptune!?"

"I'm sure their fine." Blake told Ruby. "Right now, I'm more focused on where Spider-Man is."

After hearing the heroes name, Ruby used her speed to catch up to Blake with a big smile on her face when she heard Blake said that name.

"Spider-Man!" She squeed. "Does that mean the past few days you've been avoiding us is because you're working with Spider-Man."

Blake soon remembered what she did these past few days and she soon fell into a state of guilt. Helping the Faunus civilians escape from the warehouse, running away from a Paladin, and even getting help from her team beat Roman made her almost forget how poorly she treated her team.

"Yes," She looked away in shame. "I'm sorry about being so distant, I just wanted to end this thing so badly. I know I have to work my way up for you to trust me again, but I'm-"

"Apology accepted!"

"Glad that your so quick to forgive." Blake shook her head at how suddenly she was forgiven. "Can you say that again?"

"Look, Blake, it really did suck that you were so cold to us, your team, because your dedication to learn more about the White Fang in Vale." Ruby's stern talking to the cat Faunus turned in to her usual up beat self. "But if it's because you're keeping a secret about working alongside Spider-Man, then you that's totally understandable."

"It is?"

"Yeah, I mean, if I would work along Spider-Man, which I did by the way, and get another opportunity to work alongside him in some cool secret stealth mission I would totally understand you'd want to keep it hush-hush.

' _I mean, I would 'try'. But, seriously wouldn't anyone be ecstatic about working alongside a superhero!?_ '

"Well, I don't understand." Weiss cuts in on the conversation. "Blake, you ignored your team for something like this!? And even go so far as to be some criminal's sidekick!?"

"I wasn't his sidekick." Blake corrected the heiress.

"I want to be his sidekick!" Ruby voiced her opinion.

"Yeah? And what did that accomplish? We had to clean up yours and Spider-Man's mess because you wanted to rely on some guy in a mask rather than your team."

"Speaking about guys in masks," Yang decided to try and shift this heated conversation elsewhere. "Where is bug boy, anyway?"

"He obviously cut and ran." The white pony tailed huntress said her answer.

"He didn't run away!" This time, Blake snapped at Weiss for saying that Spider-Man was a coward. "He probably went back to the where Sun and I met him."

"You think a guy waiting in bright red and blue would be easy to spot in one place." Yang rubbed the back of her head at the thought of seeing the wall crawler waiting for Blake and Sun to arrive.

"No one would notice him, Spider-Man's wearing a new costume to make him blend better at night."

"He has a new costume now!?" Ruby's eyes widened. "No kidding?!"

"That just makes him even more terrifying! Look, I highly doubt that he didn't notice you guys get chased by some big robot." Weiss even has thoughts of doubt that Spider-Man is even still waiting at the supposed rendezvous spot. "Heck, even if he did show up, then where is he?"

Yang shrugged her shoulders.

Ruby gave her a confused look when the red hooded girl thought about it too.

Even Blake had a hard time trying to find an answer to Weiss's question.

"My point exactly. If he did show up, then he should have been a 'hero' and helped us. Instead, he probably just brushed you aside and made us do the difficult part."

Before she can go on about how Spider-Man was a deserter, she was stopped when several cop cars arrived at the scene.

"Not surprised the police come after we totally saved the day." Yang placed her arms over her head in a relaxed state after the fight they went through. "Still, I'm a little surprised they showed up at all since the dangers over."

"Obviously, there here to ask us questions about what transpired here." The white themed Huntress flicked her pony tail over her shoulder. "We should inform them what we know."

"Not everything." Blake mumbled.

"Um, girls." Their leader gave them a confused stare at what she was seeing. "I don't think they're here for just that."

Looking at what Ruby was so worried about, the three older girls stared at what looks like around a dozen cop cars surround them. At first glance, they thought it was normal for the police to do this, but what came next caused all of them to instantly rethink why the police is here in the first place.

"Put your hands over your heads!" One of the cops opened his door and pointed his fire arm right at them.

They were stunned at how quickly the police officer escalated to using his weapon. Soon though, each officer did the same thing, with each officer showing expressions of rage, sadness, and even pity.

"On the ground, now!"

"Make it easy on yourselves and put down your weapons!"

"Are you deaf? We said on the ground!"

"Be on the ready, we might need back up if they decide to run."

Their shouting made the girls wonder what they did to have the officers give such harsh orders. To them, they just stopped Roman from further damaging the kingdom, so it made them feel a little bit hurt to see such hostility aimed at them.

"What's going on?" At this point, Ruby's anxiety at such terrible treatment made the red head worry. "This is way more serious then at the docks! How come their pointing their guns at us? We're the **_good guys._** "

"There just mistaken, Ruby." Her partner straightened her posture as if getting ready to talk to them. "I'm sure we just need to calmly explain that we didn't do nothing wr-"

"Ruby. Weiss. Do what they say, now." Blake removed Gambol Shroud from her back, placed on the ground, and put her hands on her head.

"What!?" This time, Weiss dropped her stoic self and gave Blake a baffled look. "Blake, we just need to tell them that w-"

"Weiss!" Blake whipped her head to the Schnee. Her calm and collective demeanor was gone, now replaced with a hate filled glare. Weiss took a step back at how Blake gave the same look other Faunus gave her in the past. "For once, stop thinking you have this under control and do what they say! There not messing around, trust me, I've seen this before."

Unable to retort back, the young heiress placed her rapier down on the floor and put her hands on her head. She was soon followed by Ruby doing the same thing, yet the one who didn't comply was her older sister.

"Put down your weapons. Now!"

"Put it down! Put it down, now!"

"This is squad 2, we might need back up real soon. We might have a Huntresses attempting to cause a scene."

With only Yang being the one not complying with the officers, many of the cops began to scream louder and louder. Such tensions were only making Yang more and more pumped up for a fight. She wanted to follow orders, but due to her emotions being connected to her semblance, added with her getting angrier at the police threatening them, made it hard for the brawler to listen to reason.

"Yang." Ruby's pleading voice made the blonde waver in standing her ground. "You need to calm down."

"But," She looked back at her little sister and tried to make an excuse to why she was acting like this. "We didn't do anything wrong! We stopped Roman from causing harm, we foiled his plans, and we made sure no one else got hurt."

"So, why…" She turned her stare back at the officers, her eyes now blood red with rage and fear shown in them.

"WHY ARE WE THE BAD GUYS!?"

Her outburst made the officers tense up, their fingers on the trigger, each ready to open fire and the enraged Huntress if things turned out for the worst. But, for Yang's team, what they saw wasn't some out of control brawler, but instead someone afraid and confused for something she thought she did was right.

"Yang..." Ruby whispered her sister's name.

"I believe I can handle the rest, gentlemen." An all too familiar voice was heard behind the officers.

Walking past the circle of cops, was Miss Goodwitch the deputy at Beacon academy. Like always, she strolled straight to the students with purpose, her riding crop in both hands to show that she was serious.

Yet, that did not match her expression, because instead of one of stern rage like she always sported when dealing with team RWBY. It was one that showed exhaustion, like she was too tired to even be angry at the young girls. In that instant, it donned on them the gravity of the situation there in if even Ms. Goodwitch herself is too tired to be angry with them.

"I believe it's time to stop, Miss Xiao Long." Her usual scolding tone was flat and emotionless, making Yang's scarlet eyes to back to normal at how quiet the Deputy sounded.

"Miss Goodwitch," Seeing this as a good opportunity, Weiss asked her teacher why this is happening to them. "The cops! Why are they treating us like we're the ones to blame for this!"

"No, Miss Schnee," She let out a loud sigh. "They aren't trying to provoke you."

To proof her point, she gave them a side glance and with a signal nod from her, the entire squad of cops put down their firearms. Turning back to face the group of young girls, the mature Huntress composed before explaining the reason for the Police to act this way.

"The reason why they pointed their weapons at you and ordered you girls to lay down your weapons isn't because they think you're criminals. It's because they're trying to help you."

"Help us?" Hearing this from Miss Goodwitch only made Yang more confused. "How are they helping us! We help-"

Without warning, the tired and solemn teacher reverted to the stern, unyielding Huntress they all know. Raising her crop above her head, Yang flinched and thought for a moment that her teacher was going to scold her for talking out of turn.

 ** _(Tink! Crash!)_**

Opening her eyes, what Yang saw was that Miss Goodwitch's crop was still raised in the air. Another thing she noticed was glass shards all around her, making Yang realize that her teacher erected some type of barrier to save her from having something almost dropped on her.

That wasn't the end however, as small shadows started to appear around them, shortly after various items were soon raining down on them. Reacting to this, Ruby reached for Crescent Rose, but when the cops saw her touch it they promptly raised their guns at them.

"Do not make this situation ant worse, Miss Rose." Goodwitch moved her eyes on the short red head. "You don't want them to throw any more stuff at you."

"Them?" Catching on to what their teacher said, Blake looked above and was in shock at what she was seeing.

Above them, at the same highway road where they were running away from the Paladin, Blake witnessed hundreds of people leaning over the bridge road throwing all types of things directly at them. Bottles, destroyed car parts, rocks from the shattered road, all the while many voiced their hate to the people who caused all this misfortune.

"You suck! How am I going to go to work now!?"

"My dad is injured because of you guys!"

"Can't believe my taxes go to Beacon for crap like this!?"

"I hate you! Go back to wherever you came from!"

"How am I going to pay for fixing all these damages on my car?!"

"Is that Weiss Schnee down there?"

"Yeah, I saw her make that ice! We're going to bleed you dry, Schnee, you can't worm your way out of this one!"

"We don't need you guys anymore! Spider-Man's the only one we need!"

"Yeah, at least he's the one doing the job right!"

"You hear us!? If it wasn't for Spider-Man, you'd all be in jail!"

Going even further on how the masked vigilante saved them, one of the strangers wearing a shirt with Spider-Man's logo, started to scream the hero's name.

"Spider-Man!"

"Spider-Man!"

"Spider-Man!"

Soon, the voices of death threats, legal lawsuits, and insults died down and replaced by people who can speak chant their hero's name.

"SPIDER-MAN!"

"SPIDER-MAN!"

" **SPIDER-MAN!"**

It felt unsettling to them hear so much passion for the hero, so much so that the four girls were caught off gaurd when the circle of cops became smaller. One cop, dressed in a simple black dress pants and buttoned shirt, stepped out of the circle and gave Glynda a sad look.

"I'm sorry, but protocol dictates we do this." Officer Stacy holstered his gun and pulled out a set of cuffs. "Don't make this any harder, this is more of a symbolic gesture then an arrest."

For a second, the deputy of Beacon was tempted to use her semblance to toss away the cuffs, but quickly caught herself at what she was thinking. She didn't want to add more fuel to the fire and it would make her a hypocrite after what she told the girls.

So, with a heavy heart, Miss Goodwitch stepped away from the four young girls to make way for the officer to do his job. The Deputy kept a straight face through it all, she never once looked away as one by one each Huntress was put in cuffs and was escorted to an individual police car.

Glynda wasn't a stranger to seeing Huntsmen who abuse their power be arrested, she just wished it didn't have to end this way. When they caught wind about what happened Ozpin did his best to react to the situation as fast as possible, he wanted to be the one to ease them into the problem they were in. However, with how big the damages were, the council was faster and called Ozpin immediately for answers as to why his students were out and about causing trouble. Leaving her to be the one to see them go, to see scared young girls rather than Huntsmen, be driven off to the station to answer for the crimes they commited.

With Team RWBY now safe and away from the public scrutiny, she looked back up to see them still hurtling insults as well as other florigen objects. She stayed a little bit longer, perhaps hoping some of their anger could be aimed at her, since in some way and form this too was her fault for not reacting fast enough.

With her eye still looking up, Glynda's eyes caught something move a far distance from where most of the angry mob congregated. A small human silhouette swinging away and into the night, it didn't take a genius to know who the Huntress saw.

Looking at the hero as he became harder to see as he moved farther into the city. Glynda stood in place, the rain of debris showing no signs of stopping and whispered to herself.

"Thank you for helping, Spider-Man."

* * *

"Thanks for not helping, Spider-Man." Jaune berated himself as he weaved past buildings. "Can't believe after everything you did, you decided to stop when Ruby and her friends needed you the most."

Looking back to see how far away he was from the highway. The masked hero saw that he was unable to see his last location, giving him the chance to land on top of some random rooftop. Now, no longer fighting, rescuing, and web slinging, Spider-Man finally let his exhaustion take hold of him and fell on his back.

' _Need to… stay awake… until I reach Aunt May's house.'_

The spider hero knows he has a good excuse as to why he left them high and dry. He pushed himself too far this time, too many time opening his mind for his spider sense take control, too many web zipping to each person that needed rescue, and too much time letting his arm bleed out.

It even became more noticeable after he rescued Jack and handed him back to his father. He wanted to keep going, especially when he saw Ruby and the rest of her friends being taken by the cops.

' _I could've dropped down there and explain what happened.'_ That random thought was stopped as Jaune's working hand smacked his forehead. "Idiot, cops already try to arrest you, so even if you shift their attention to you, how are you going to escape? You can barely get up."

Aside from the cops, another example as to why he didn't come down to help them came in the form of the civilians he saved.

"I know they're thankful about me saving them, but the chanting…" Spider-Man shook his head. "God, why the chanting?"

At this point, Spider-Man had two options laid before him. Option one, go down there explain the situation, and hope they go after him instead. That would even cause an even bigger can of worms to be unleashed, cause if the people were angry about team RWBY, then they would be livid if they see the cops arrest Spider-Man.

"I didn't want to make it worse," He confessed. "With how much I put out already, I seriously doubt I could outrun the cops until I succumb to my wound."

' _Leaving me with the second option.'_

His second option, was to leave them all by themselves and flee before the cops notice him. Spider-Man already did his part, even to go far and beyond and saved dozens of lives tonight. He's even more certain that if he decided to just end it after he caught the evidence at the rally and leave after that. Then the people he saved tonight wouldn't even be alive right now throwing stuff at the Huntresses.

' _Alright, enough with the pity party. Get up, Jaune.'_ Forcing his body to get back up, Jaune looked at his broken web shooter that was still tightly wrapped around his damaged forearm. **_(Sigh~)_** "It's like a band aid, a strong, bear trap like, band aid. Ok, counting in 1-"

 ** _(SHINK!)_**

"GRRR!" Forcing his mouth shout to not scream, Spider-Man grunted in pain as he clutched his injury. "Welp, I did say I was 'counting in 1'. Hopefully when I get back the bleeding should stop thanks to my fast healing the bleeding should stop soon."

' _I'm even more positive that with a goodnight sleep all the injures I sustained will completely be healed too.'_

Shaking his now free arm, Spider-Man walked to the edge of the roof and shot a web line to another building. Lifting his right leg to start his web slinging, Spider-Man stopped mid motion.

"Don't think about, Jaune." He told himself. "It's already too late to go back. Just drop it and go home."

' _You're going to need it too. Since you know what's going to happen tomorrow when all of Vale will learn what happened tonight.'_

Agreeing with his inner monologue, Spider-Man lifted his right leg again and stopped once again when another stray thought passed his head.

"Wait," The wall crawler let the web line fall out of his hands and started to count using his fingers. "Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang… Wait, where did Sun and Neptune go?"

* * *

 **Hope this chapter was a good wait for you guys. This is by far the largest chapter I made, and I made sure I put good detail to both RWBY fighting the Paladin and Spider-Man doing his best to fix the problems they made. When I watched the 2nd Vol, the episode regarding the highway, it made me want to make sure that I put enough detail of what they did and how it affected Spider-Man when he tried to rescue people.**

 **I even added some elements with Spider-Man removing his mask too. I had the idea from the Amazing Spider-Man made by Sony when the lizard knocked over cars in a highway. I watched both the movie and the episode from RWBY and decided I could add both of it.**

 **Now, I know you guys didn't think that he couldn't save so many people, I thought so too at first. Then I remembered watching the Amazing Spider-Man 2 and saw Spider-Man fight Electro. In one scene where Spider-Man saw lighting course through a metal railing that could've shocked people. His spider sense and quick reflexes stopped the people from touching it and like I said he reacted faster while the lightning was still moving.**

 **Not just that either, Spider-Man while still in his younger years was able to dodge bullets in close range, so I think he fast enough to stop falling cars. Besides, he didn't catch them, he used spider webs, so I think that's a good enough reason that he was able to stop them from falling. Another thing was his web shooters, since I said before that they are still somewhat in a prototype phase, I thought to myself that it shouldn't be that durable. So, since Jaune is down one web shooter, he would need to go back to the drawing board and make sure the next set he makes is more durable.**

 **I know I also made Spider-Man tell everyone he meets to call for the cops too, but I think that's a good choice for him to always tell the people he saved. That would mean with so many people calling for help it should cause 911 operators to see how serious it is and double their efforts to get as many of their people down there to help.**

 **I always thought that episode involving them fighting the Paladin would be a turning point for them to be more responsible. Instead, the producers just brushed it aside and rolled into the next episode without much to discuss about the ramifications. This is where the cops finally arrive to stop them before they leave. The citizens that were saved called the police to respond faster and when they did they arrived just in time to arrest them. Most of you wonder (Though I'm sure a majority knew this would happen) that why should they be arrested.**

 **For starters, they destroyed public property, endangered the lives of citizens, and acting without the permission of the school or the council to even fight the paladin and spying the Fang rally. Believe me they got off easy, compared to the show they would also be charged with accidental manslaughter (I think that's a thing).**

 **Either way, we all knew how most of the action in that episode was cool, but also senseless if the characters don't feel some remorse over the destruction they made. The all thing left now is the aftermath of what will happen when news gets out on what they did and who saved the people caught in the cross fire. Roman did loose most of the stuff Cinder gave him, though I'm sure that when she sees what he did that night and how the public will react, she will let him off with a warning then kill him.**

 **Now, besides the explanation for the chapter, I have another announcement. The recent slow update for this chapter is because I'm no longer in the states. That's right I'm going international! Just kidding, my job required me to move, so now I'm here in the land of the rising sun for at least a year, but I'm hoping I could stay for a little bit longer. So, expect to have updates be a bit slow or maybe short, depending on the hours I can start due to how far the hours are so different compared to the US.**

 **I also plan to shorten the length of chapters, I know some of you like the long chapters, but I want to go back to having a more controlled word length. It also speeds up the process to publish more chapters.**

 **Still though, I hope this chapter was worth the wait and I'm sorry if some of you think it wasn't. Like always I like to thank my Beta Readers (** **ahsoei and CrazyCriticer46)** **for the help and I hope you guys check their stories too. Don't forget to fav, like, and leave a comment if I left anything out or if you have a question about the chapter. Thank you.**

* * *

 **(OMAKE: Popcorn)**

In a typical day, on this typical night, a man was near his stove cooking popcorn. He was your average man with nothing noticeable for anyone to notice. He had short brown hair, thin, and lived in a spacious apartment with his girlfriend.

Really, this man was the pinnacle of an average citizen. Now, the man wasn't hoping for anything amazing to happen to him, he likes how his life turned out and would never regret the choices that led him at this point.

"I'm going to need a bowl." The nameless man preferred it in a larger bowl then the container the popcorn was packed in. Turning off the stove he set the popcorn on the counter, reached in one of the top kitchen cabinets, grabbed a plastic bowl, and poured the popcorn into it.

"Wonder what's happen outside." He said offhandedly, not really expecting much to happen. Walking out to his apartments fire escape, the man leaned on the stair railing and ate his popcorn while staring off at Vale's night life.

His girlfriend and him lived in a good suburban area, not great compared to housing that's deeper into the kingdom. Not much can really be said about their living space other then it's between Vale's richer district and the moderately rich.

"Nothing really new happening." He said like he knew it would. "Was hoping to see some explosion already, Beacon students were usually the one I expect to see some form of excitement in this kingdom."

' _Maybe we should've moved to the other kingdoms after all. See what's out there rather than stay in Vale for the rest of our loves.'_

As he continued to stare absently into Vale's quiet night, the bored adult ate a cornel every so often until one piece of popcorn fell out of his hands. Attempting to pick it up, the man looked at where he last saw it drop when he stopped at something he never thought of seeing.

Right next to him, on the brick wall, was the hero: Spider-Man standing horizontally without a care in the world. At first, he thought he was hallucinating and promptly shook his head with the hero still defying gravity by standing on the brick wall.

Can anyone blame him, he only heard of this hero from the news and friends, some of them even said they saw the hero in action. He always thought that he would see the hero stop a train, or fight some gun toting gangsters, instead he's seeing the hero look like he's lost in thought.

' _Holy…'_

As if finally realizing the hero was being watched, Spider-Man moved his head to see the man living in this building staring slack jawed at him.

"Is it stove or microwave?" Spider-Man asked the man holding the popcorn.

"Stove." The stunned man said automatically.

"Salt or butter?"

"Both." Without warning he moved the bowl of popcorn forward as a sign for the hero to grab a hand full of the snack.

Not looking a gift horse in the mouth, Spider-Man grabbed a handful of popcorn and thanked the man.

"Thank you, sir." Spider-Man was about to lift his mask to show his mouth, only for him to stop and moved his head. Looking at some far-off direction, Spider-Man shot a web line to another building and web swinged away.

"Whoa..." Is all he could say as he stared off at where Spider-Man was web slinging.

"Hey," Just as soon as Spider-Man left, his girlfriend stepped outside with a towel over her head. "Why are you outside, it's movie night. Are you already eating popcorn?"

Ignoring his girlfriend's rant, the man chuckled at how random his first encounter with the hero. He can complain about how he wished something exiting would happen now and then, but what happened here just now would probably be one of the coolest things that ever happened to him.

"I love this kingdom."


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer: Brotherhoof12 doesn't own these two franchise.**

* * *

 **(Chapter 22: Bring down the Iron)**

* * *

When this year started, Ozpin thought that what he had to worry about was making sure the Queen couldn't reach Amber within the Academy. It did make him a tad nervous that the White Fang and other dangerous groups have started to make their move in Vale. Yet, he didn't have to worry too much knowing that a certain youthful group have made several attempts to stop any dangers appearing in the city.

"And here's today morning reports." Glynda levitated a large stack of papers on the headmaster's desk. The sheer size alone could block Ozpin's vision. "Oh, you also need to remember that you will make a public statement about the damage team RWBY caused a few nights ago."

' _Perhaps I shouldn't go too far and say I'm not worried.'_ His peace were ruined thanks to the stack of papers in front of him. Ozpin picked up a folder on top of the tall stack.

"…" Glynda, ever the stoic woman she is, stared as her boss stood on his toes to reach for a folder too high for him to reach.

She sighed after seeing that the man wasn't going to stop. The mature Huntress used her riding crop to levitate the folder into the headmaster's hands.

"Thank you, Glynda." He said with a smile. Opening the file to read its contents, Ozpin's relaxed demeanor soon dropped after reading it. "Another family requesting to transfer their child out of Beacon?"

"One of them, Ozpin." With a flick of her riding crop, her Semblance levitated several other folders, each one with different families having the same request. "This is far more than the last time we received these after the so called 'Sandman' incident that had young Sun and Neptune interfere. Though, that time we only had a handful, now we have a stack load. I fear the next amount we'll get won't be just paper, but their parents themselves knocking on our front door."

Putting down the file he was holding, Ozpin removed himself from his desk and walked to a window behind him. Looking outside to see Vale made the grey-haired adult lost in thought, and he usually does his best when doing so.

Ozpin, for all his years of experience, never thought that he would meet this dilemma so soon. Of course, he expected to see some unease within the people. The White Fang and Roman's increase in stealing are just a few things that he was tracking.

He had no doubt that these instances are part of the Queen's doing, which was why he called Qrow to come back to the Kingdom. The enemy was no longer outside of Vale's walls, each passing day, he can tell that this beautiful Kingdom will become a deadly battleground soon.

The highway incident was just a small-scale example of how much Vale will receive when this so-called Queen springs her attack. Though, he can't just assume that Roman wasn't the only one that can take all the credit for what happened that night.

No, that can also be tied together with Team RWBY and the school that houses them.

"Any word on Qrow?" He asked Glynda. "I know that he has been visiting his nieces since they were done at the station."

"He says that they are doing fine, though they still have some lingered guilt regarding their encounter with the Paladin." She answered.

"I see. I understand that they are not entirely to blame for the destruction on the highway, but they still need to answer for the other accidents they themselves made, correct?"

"Yes." Glynda made another motion with her weapon that made half the paper stack float. The other half that remained on the desk had the top folder removed by Ozpin himself. "Though Officer Stacy did say before that their 'arrest' was just for show, there are eyewitness accounts for things that team RWBY did that wasn't from the Paladin."

Combing through the long list of eyewitness' testimonies, it showed that each person explained how team RWBY caused more harm than good when defeating the Paladin.

One citizen claimed that he saw one Huntress make a floor of ice on the road, causing him and his son to crash. Another says that a Huntress with black hair was the cause for the large explosion near one of the roads, not before she made several vehicular 'hit and runs' when she and some other blonde teen decided to jump on cars. But above all those testimonies about what the team did that night, only one thing stood out the most.

When the people were caught in the crossfire, not even one of his students acted on trying to save them.

"The report also says here that there was a fog that made it impossible for anyone on the road to see." The headmaster said to his deputy.

"Yes, Miss Schnee and Miss Xiao long both confessed that they caused the fog. However, if you read further in the report, you see that team RWBY also voiced their own reasons as to why they did such acts."

"I see." Reading the rest of the report from the Vale police station, Ozpin closed back the folder and set it aside on his desk. "It does paint a very morbid picture about them."

"That's taking it lightly," Glynda sighed. She never did it as often, but with so much flak coming their way, it was starting to become a habit. "Thankfully enough, team RWBY won't be charged with heavy crimes such as public destruction."

"However…" Ozpin knew there was more to this, so he said that.

"However, they still have to deal with some crimes that they are charged with. Public endangerment is one of them, but fortunately, there wasn't enough evidence to stack more charges on them."

"And since they stopped the Paladin from causing more harm, they don't have to worry about any major punishment." The headmaster clarified, already making sure Beacon's legal team had enough to defend the students.

"That is good news." Glynda sounded off when she said it.

"Oh? Something on your mind, Glynda?"

Contemplating on what she's about to say, the mature blonde looked at her boss with a conflicting look.

"I'm happy knowing the fact that team RWBY won't be charged as criminals for defending the city from that Paladin, even more glad that the damage they made are just superficial, but don't you think that this will cause more harm to Beacon's image?" She asked him.

"Is it bad that we try to help a young group of innocent girls from being sent to jail?" He raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"No. Never. I'm more worried about how this will look to the people of Vale. They already see us in a bad light, Ruby and her team just made it slightly worse, but won't they see it differently? That instead of upholding the standard, we try to escape from it."

People already started to have mixed feeling about Huntsmen, even before team RWBY were formed and made trouble, but this might be the one that will finally break the camel's back.

"You're saying that we aren't taking full responsibility of our actions?" The grey-haired headmaster asked.

"In a way, yes. We are Huntsmen, sworn to uphold peace and fight the Grimm. But in the eyes of the people, all we're doing is helping a group of heavily armed people get out of jail with no consequences."

Glynda looked away from Ozpin and used her Semblance to retrieve a folder with a picture of a student attached to it.

"I know this one, he's a third year. He had a bright future here and I had no doubt he would become an excellent Huntsman. Most of these students in this stack had bright futures, but their parents say otherwise." Setting the folder down, Glynda rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"It's becoming more apparent now that the new generation of Huntsmen are becoming too lax in their duty. I see it in our school, in hallways, the cafeteria, and even more so in my class. It's not just me either, Ozpin. People are no longer seeing us as elite warriors, but a school for the privileged brats."

"Glynda, I know that this paints us in a bad light, but you and I both know why. There are darker forces at work that needs more attention than us trying to put up appearances." Setting aside the legal ramifications in his head, the headmaster set his sights towards his goal.

"Team RWBY will be a great help soon and we can't have them taken out when they just started here." Going back to his desk, he pulled out his tablet from one of his drawers and handed it to Glynda. "Not just them either, several other students are needed for what's to come. Amber can't hold out much longer, and you know how this will play out if we decide to play by the book."

"You're… right." She looked at the Fall Maiden's decline in health on the tablet and gave it back to Ozpin. "I always knew those girls would be trouble after the initiation, I just wished that it didn't have to play out like that. I saw how crushed they looked, Ozpin. They did good, yet, the people still hurled insults and trash at them."

"It's common nature to shift blame. With Roman escaping, they had no other target to let out their frustration other than the Huntresses that saved them."

"That's where you're wrong, Ozpin. True, team RWBY bravely faced off with a criminal master, but the one who really saved the day was Spider-Man."

Hearing the webslinger's name, Ozpin typed him up on the internet and what rewards him was a flood of Spider-Man feeds. There wasn't many civilians when the attack happened, but there was still those who were saved by the webhead that decided to record the hero's actions as he flipped, webbed, and lifted people to safety.

"Over a million views, I would say this certainly beats watching cute cat videos online." He commented.

"That's not all, people are already in the hero craze due to Spider-Man, but after that night, it became more. Now, people has no longer expected us to help, they're now relying on one man instead. I'm not saying that I'm ungrateful, far from it. He saved not only the people, but also team RWBY."

"Yes, it was thanks to him that they won't be labeled as murderers. Huntsmen are trained to fight Grimm, but we also protect what's left of humanity. It would be quite a sorry thing if we can't do both." He said while scrolling through countless comments about Spider-Man's actions. "Though, even if people try and hold them accountable for that, it would be far more difficult to do so since they stopped Roman from causing more harm." He continued.

"Regardless, you still need to make a statement on this. It was team RWBY who caused this to blow out of proportion, who knows if this will make other students to do the same." Glynda can take care of students like Cardin and his bullying for so long.

However, she fears that if he doesn't change his attitude soon when he graduates, his status as a Huntsman could send a bad image on the community.

"Since they only got a slap on the wrist by the police, I'm sure more of our arrogant students will try and push their luck." She said while counting the numbers of said students in her head.

"You mean, try and uncover some nefarious shadow group within Vale?" Ozpin raised a single eyebrow from Glynda's statement.

"No." She rolled her eyes at the headmaster. "What I mean is, what would happen if they decided to go out and decide to drink? Or get in a fight? We see them as our students enjoying their time at Beacon, while normal citizens see them as potential bombs ready to go off. People are already out for blood and we can't keep things under wraps forever."

She would be lying if she didn't see that already in full-fledged Huntsmen, but they were adults who understand the consequences of their actions. As for the students, she had her fair share of breaking up fights on or off the campus, with the latter being a broken bar or someone's personal property in the process.

"Your concerns hold weight, but I doubt our students would try anything right now, not when we're on the magnifying glass. Don't worry, even though they did stop Roman, they're still not licensed Huntsmen and will be punished for going off on their own. That's why I limited them to just there room and have no other student make contact with them." Putting the tablet down, Ozpin reached for his cane and started to walk to the elevator.

"Team RWBY's punishment aside, the council still needs to talk to me before I go to the public because this also has to do with them as well." He pressed the button to have the elevator arrive to the top floor of his office.

"Yes," Glynda followed Ozpin inside the elevator. "I'm sure they're also trying to work this around to make sure that they aren't responsible either. After all, since they also put time and Lien training the next batch of Huntsmen, they want to make sure their 'products' won't be stopped due to complications like this. That is why we're still holding the girl's name out of the news correct?"

"That was my suggestion to withhold the information." Ozpin clarified. "If I'm the one being in the center stage giving out an apology, I might as well be the one who tells them the truth."

Pressing the button to reach to the bottom floor, both adults stared ahead as the elevator brought them down to the main lobby. As they continued to stare, they were greeted to see more signs of Spider-Man's rising popularity in the city. Billboards, giant posters on tall building, even people wearing more Spider-Man merch seemed to multiply even further since word started to spread of the heroics he performed that day.

' _Speaking about popular heroes.'_ Wanting to change this topic to something else, the headmaster of Beacon turned to Glynda and asked her a question. "Let's focus on a different matter, shall we? One thing I heard was there is another sighting of this 'Iron Man' who was in Mistral."

"Iron Man?" Glynda was now the one to look confused at why a so called 'hero' would decide to move to Mistral. "I heard that he usually stays in Atlas, mostly around the outskirts of villages that can't afford to be in the major city."

"It seems while our own hero in Vale stays within his home like a spider to its web, Iron Man seems to fly wherever he pleases."

"That certainly doesn't seem wise." The blonde woman said as she continued to stare ahead at the Kingdom. "Seems to me like it's a breach of territory. If the stories from the villages that are saved by Iron Man were true, then any Kingdom would feel like they're being invaded by a one-man army than an actual superhero."

"James had the same idea when he heard that Iron Man invaded Mistral airspace." He silently chuckled as he remembered James storm out of his office, red in the face at how his soldiers were not allowed to enter Mistral air space. "He was quite peeved at what Iron Man did over at Mistral. Apparently, Iron Man taunted his men to try and capture him and they were still denied in entering the Kingdom."

"Was that all? I thought Iron Man usually rescues people, not goads the military."

The Huntress may have some things against Ironwood's brash military might. But, hearing what the metal man did makes her understand James's opinion over this flying hero a bit understandable.

"Well, it seems that when Iron Man was in Mistral, there was an air show that had many influential figures who were invited to see new models show how fast they can perform." Ozpin moved his eyes to look at the deputy.

"Influential groups were all invited to the show, from political head in Vale, Vacuo, and even Atlas."

Catching on to what Ozpin had said, Glynda voiced her thoughts on what conclusion the headmaster had.

"So, you're saying that the people who were invited to the air show, specifically Atlas, could be this flying metal man?"

"It does add weight as to why he was there in the first place. As fast as he was shown to fly and save the pilot, it would still be impossible for him to fly from Atlas and all the way to Mistral. I find it even more unlikely that he somehow knew that there would be danger on that day and time."

"Unless you think it was planned?" She questioned. "You know how popularity are in Remnant. With how Spider-Man is becoming a staple in Vale, it doesn't really surprise me that people will go to great lengths to try and be famous."

Glynda knew that what she said is a stretch, if it was all a set up, then the villages saved by Iron Man must take a great deal to set up.

"True." Ozpin agreed as he nodded. "But even then, this Iron Man is just starting to get noticed because of that incident while our resident wallcrawler already have his webs tangled in the Kingdom and is almost taking hold of Mistral and Vacuo."

"The way you said it, Spider-Man sounds more like a brand name rather than the hero himself." Looking closer outside, she could see the people of Vale wearing colors of a certain red and blue vigilante. "Then again, you're not wrong either."

Finally, after hearing the elevator doors land on their requested floor, both adults walked out and entered the busy lobby of their school. It was still morning, and every staff member and student were on their way to their respective destination.

Walking out of the front door of the Academy, they were greeted by freshly cut grass and the sound of birds as they continued to walk.

 **(BURP)**

The birds soon flew away after they were startled by a massive belch caused by a familiar drunkard sitting lazily on one of the school's benches. Wiping the dribble off the edge of his lips, the red eyed Huntsman looked back at the two fellow co-workers and gave his usual greeting.

"Morning." Qrow put the cap back on his flask and placed it on his hip holster. "Been waiting, what took you guys so long?" He asked.

"We had morning reports that needed our attention." Ozpin told Qrow. _'Hopefully Glynda won't remind me to put them away. I did just walk away from the stack that's still on my desk.'_

"But enough about that, how about you, Qrow?" He asked. "I know you're also worrying about how your nieces are. So did visiting them work things out?"

"Not much, really." The black and red Huntsman shrugged his shoulders. "They're tough kids, they have to if they want to be a Huntress. But I can still see that they're hung up about what happened."

"Did they tell you what happened at the station?" This time, it was Glynda who asked the question about the girls' state of mind. "I arrived at the police station, but by the time I entered, they were already waiting in the lobby and I didn't want to ask them so soon."

"Not really anything soul crushing. Ruby told me that they were in different interrogation rooms and was just asked simple questions about what happened." The middle-aged man was also going to add the fact that they gave her cookies, but he held off on that.

"Listen, Glyn-woah!" Getting up from the bench too fast made him stumble a bit. "Ok, I'm centered." He says after fixing his footing. "Anyways. Glynda, I know my nieces, and I also seen their partners too." He told her.

 _'One young huntress in particular. Oh, man. I can already imagine the look on her face when she hears what her little sister did. Pure comedy…'_ The drunk Huntsman thought deviously.

"They have thick skins, a little bit of alone time and enough space will be enough for them to bounce back." He said.

"I guess you're right." Glynda placed her faith in Qrow's belief. "Then it just leaves us with going to the Council and having Ozpin make a public apology."

Hearing about what their plan is today made Qrow turned to his boss with mild disdain about where they're going.

"The council? That pit of snakes? Why would you go to them? This is Beacon's problem, after all." He spoke distastefully.

"I know you dislike them, friend. But this isn't something we can handle ourselves. We can handle things like a disturbance caused by our students or a minor conflict..." The grey-haired headmaster trailed.

"Or destroying businesses such as... oh, I don't know. A bar?" Glynda poked a reference at Qrow regarding Yang's first time in Vale.

"That place was shady, and you know it. Besides, if the owner of that dive bar has hired two young girls as bodyguards, then you know that place is trouble." He defended Yang's reason as to why she made Beacon pay off the damages she caused.

"Which makes this an even bigger problem, Qrow." Ozpin brought back the conversation to the main topic. "Problems like that is something we can handle, but this accident was in a more public area, not some bar full of questionable people, full of civilians and property damages that are connected to the Council. We can't fix this alone, that's why they called me so we can discuss how we can solve this together."

To normal people, it would sound really odd that a school would pay for a student who destroy personally owned establishments, and they would be wrong. Since this is an Academy to train teens to become the next generation of Huntsmen to fight the Grimm, the Council gives the proper amount of funding to the Academy so they can handle the students and not lead it straight to them.

That wasn't the case anymore, not after the night when that Paladin and team RWBY fight it out in the middle of a highway. This can no longer be settled with the school alone, not when this situation will also have a negative effect on the Council as well.

"Well, have fun with that, Oz." The black-haired adult pulled out his scroll. "I'll just stay in Beacon, maybe check with Ruby and Yang later."

"And what will you do right now?"

"Sit on my butt and watch this video someone recorded." He showed the video to his co-workers. "Some guy recorded this when Mistral was showing a premiere air show that went horribly wrong."

Both watched the video play as one of the new model flyers Mistral was showing started to malfunction with a wing producing smoke. Said wing exploded and sent the plane to nose dive with the pilot still inside the cockpit.

Hearing the people scream and shout in fear gave Glynda a thought that perhaps this wasn't a set up after all. As the people continued to panic, the video soon zoomed into the sky when the person recording the event saw a fast object intercepting the falling machine.

"That must be Iron Man." Glynda spoke out loud as she saw the armored hero save the pilot before he could crash. "Though the video is lacking proper resolution to see the full detail of the hero."

"Hey, I said it was some guy recording this on his scroll, not some camera man." Pressing pause and opening a new window, Qrow searched the news and was happy to read what people were saying. "Hope Iron Man keeps pissing off Ol' Jimmy. A guy who can do that is a hero in my book."

"Well, we won't stop you spending your time by yourself. Enjoy the rest of your day." Ozpin walked along with Glynda then stopped midway when he remembered something. "By the way, have you... by any chance…?"

"Tracking Spider-Man?" He finished his boss' question. "Haven't seen him for the past couple of days. I mean, have you seen what's happening in the city? Everywhere I go, I see Spider-Man's face plastered on everything."

It seemed that the first time they met wasn't really a great way to start things off, but maybe the next time he finds the wallcrawler, Qrow can at least apologize to him with a drink.

"Don't worry. Tonight, I'll try my luck again." He reassured Ozpin. "Just worry about dealing with paperwork while I report on what I find tonight."

Trusting his subordinate, both Huntsmen walked to the school's parking lot, leaving the drunk uncle to himself. Watching the two walk off towards the distance, the veteran Huntsman went back to sitting on the bench, pulled out his flask, and continued to read the news about how Atlas was turned away from Mistral.

"I'll get right on it." He promised as he took two large swigs from his flask. "Tonight."

* * *

As the morning continued with the bustling of both students and staff members getting started on the day, only one team was still in their room, not by choice, but by orders from the headmaster himself.

They weren't under complete house arrest, far from it. They can still go out and do personal tasks. The team was just told that they couldn't attend class or most parts of the academy until they say otherwise.

That still didn't stop Glynda from dropping off their course work, saying that they can still do school work even if they can't go to class.

Still, hearing that they don't have to go to class would have been great news to them. Well, 3 out of 4 would agree that it sounds great. Only instead of using their free time to goof off, team RWBY simply used this time to either rest in bed, read, or even keep their minds sharp by going over classwork.

Each one kept their minds preoccupied with something, all except one huntress who kept tossing and turning in her bed. Her scroll in both her hands as she continued to stare at what the news has to say about the recent tragedy that happened that night.

In the screen, Ruby saw the same female reporter, Liza Lavender in front of all the rubble that was still being cleaned up by Vale construction crew.

"What you see behind me is the remains of one of the main highways used by many people. Now, it has been closed off until it can be properly fixed, leaving many people quite mad that their usual route to work had been cut off."

The camera then showed to the workers controlling heavy machines to move all the destroyed cement. As the camera kept showing the manual labor, the female reporter continued to talk.

"That night can still be talked throughout the Kingdom, with many citizens starting to ask questions. The most notable question they ask, is the Huntsmen community's lack of effort around Vale."

Changing the scene yet again, the news was now focused on a man that had a brace around his neck.

"Tell me sir, in your eyes, how did the event play out?" She asked him.

"Well, uh..." The man fumbled with his words. "I was driving on my car, then out of nowhere, I saw this large robot heading straight at me. So, before it could hit me, I swerved out of the way and I hit a light post."

"And did you know where is was heading?"

"Well, last thing I remembered before I blacked out was that the road I was driving on was leading to the highway." He answered.

When he finished, images of that night were played on Ruby's scroll. Crashed cars, injured civilians, they even showed the results of her teams fight with Roman.

"Just as he said, the machine that was piloted by the notorious criminal: Roman Torchwick, was seen heading to the highway. A weapon that large was also connected to a White Fang rally thanks to multiple phone calls of concerned civilians. The police were able to arrive at the location and apprehended a handful of White Fang members and confiscated multiple weapons and Dust."

"While we can thank the police for their effort to bring down the Fang's illegal weapons and rally, it cannot be said for the Huntsmen that was fighting the Paladin in the highway."

Hearing that the news was going to talk about them, Yang, Blake, and Weiss stopped at what they were doing and listened to what the reporter had to say.

"We were able to talk to a few witnesses that was on the same highway Roman was on, including their experience when seeing both the paladin and the Huntsmen fight."

Once again, the news showed different people either looking completely fine or had a cast due to them still healing from their injuries.

"What were your thoughts on that tragic night and how do you feel about the Huntsmen and Roman's urban battle?" Was Liza Lavender's question that was answered by multiple people.

"It was scary. I thought I was going to die and when I saw some Huntsmen chasing the Paladin. I thought I was going to get help, instead, they just kept running to the robot, not even noticing I was there."

"The entire thing was a nightmare, cars were thrown, dense fog showing up, people were scared, and where were the Huntsmen in all of this chaos? Nowhere!"

"I was just driving with my son, and soon I saw this woman with a white pony-tail jump out of nowhere and formed ice on the road."

"I worry that Huntsmen just think about fighting rather than making sure us normal people are safe."

"What is Beacon teaching these kids?! More importantly, so these kids even have a license to carry such dangerous weapons? If so, then they should all get confiscated!"

Each comment made each Huntress in the room sink their heads lower at how people saw them after their fight with Roman.

"As the hearts of many go out to the people who went through such horrible trials, we can all breathe a sigh of relief knowing that no lives were lost that night. All thanks to our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man."

Just after she said that last sentence, the screen then shifted to a different set of people who were also caught in the fight.

"I swear, I thought I was done for until Spider-Man saved my life."

"He was so brave, helping all of us with no one helping him. Makes me glad heroes really do exist in Remnant."

"My kid can't stop talking about him! I mean, he's such a fan for Spider-Man, he asked me if I can help him make a costume just like his!"

"I just find it kind of ironic that the vigilante we've heard from the news can be completely different from the hero we met. The same can go for the Huntsmen, our protectors of humanity, be the opposite of what we imagined."

"Honestly, I just feel like Huntsmen nowadays lost sight of why they earned the title of being what they are. Makes it look really embarrassing that some guy in a mask knows more about it than them."

"Spider-Man! Spider-Man Spider-Man! We all cheered his name for what he did for us. Heck, if I ever see him again, you know I'll keep chanting!"

Camera focusing on the reporter again, Liza raised one hand in the air and a small chart appeared next to her. On it, was two meters, one for the Huntsmen, the second, for Spider-Man.

"For the past couple of months, debate has been going on for some time whether or not Spider-Man is doing a better job than the Huntsmen. Now, with this recent development, it seems that the meter for the Huntsmen are gradually lowering while Spider-Man's popularity steadily increases."

Chart disappearing, Lisa talked more about the group that fought Roman.

"We have yet to know the group of Huntsmen who took part in the battle or any other information. But some speculate that they were young Huntresses, leading us to believe they might hail from Beacon. One person in said group was one girl being more noticeable then the others. Rumors implying that it is the Mr. Schnee's very own daughter, Wei-"

Pausing the news, Ruby turned the screen off and shoved her scroll under her pillow. Not wanting to hear it anymore, the young redhead simply laid on her bed and closed her eyes to calm down after watching the current events on Vale.

Relaxing being ever so elusive, Ruby tried turning in different sleeping positions to try and get a better chance to unwind. The rocking motion made the one using the bottom bunk to voice her complaint.

"Ruby..." She peeked over to her leader's bed. "Can you just lay still? I'm trying to study."

"Sorry, Weiss." Ruby turned to her side where she can see snippets of Spider-Man taped to her side of the wall. "Just thinking about how we messed up."

Hearing what their leader had said, the rest of her team stopped what they're doing and went lost in thought about that night.

The girls were cooperative when the police interrogated them about what went down in fighting the Paladin. Well, Weiss still did her usual business talk about her rights before answering the officer's questions. She was raised to lead the SDC in the future, after all.

Even if the mistake was behind them, the lingering sense of failure still remains in the room. People shouting of threats, profanity, and foreign object really made them take a step back to see the big picture.

That big picture, was them only seeing what was in front of them and hurting the people around them without even having a single thought of what might happen afterwards.

"I know we did the best that we could," She told her team before any of them could speak. "It's just… I wish that we could have done more..."

Silence soon enveloped the room, listening to what Ruby said really made the other girls to look inward and think about what they could've done better if they did it a second time.

"Maybe I should've tried a different way to bring down the machine rather than make ice on the road." The heiress admitted her mistake, a rare thing since she always tries to hide her insecurities.

"What are you talking about?" Yang asked the Schnee. "You weren't the one who decided to lose control and decide to hit the thing without a plan. It was me who went all gun-ho about beating it with my fists."

"No. You're wrong, Yang." The blonde's partner entered the self-blame game. "This is all on me. No one else. I was arrogant, thinking that I can do this on my own and leave you guys here and not get hurt. Your semblance helped us take it down, but it was me who led it to all those people."

"All of you are wrong." Hearing all her teammates voice their problems, Ruby got out of her bed and was now in the center of the room. "You all did great out there!" She called out.

"Weiss." Ruby looked at her partner. "Your Dust and glyphs gave us the support we needed to even the playing field with Roman's fire power."

The silver eyed teen set her sights to her older sister.

"Yang, you helped us with how you took it head on so the rest of us can get in position to help you. If you weren't the one tanking all the damage, then I doubt the rest of us could do it."

Finally, looking at the girl who started it all, Ruby's gaze made Blake squirm as she couldn't keep eye contact with their leader.

"And Blake," Ruby's stare softened. "We already told you after we were finished at the police station that we forgive you. I know you still have issues about trusting people after the whole 'leaving the White Fang thing', but that was in the past. Now you're in team RWBY, and if one us is in danger, the rest will always be there to help."

After saying what she thought about each of her teammates, Ruby looked down at the floor and talked about herself.

"If anyone is to blame, then it's m-MPFF!" She was struck by a pillow right when she was going to say it.

"Oh, you're not carrying this all on your own, Rose!" Weiss tossed her last pillow at the scythe wielder. "I know you're trying your best to be a great team leader, but saying that you should be the only one to take the blame is way too much for just you."

"It's true! I was the one who gave the or-WAAH!" As she was looking at her partner, Ruby was struck again with a pillow from her older sister.

"Those orders helped us beat Roman as a team!" Yang smirked, her usual upbeat attitude returning. "If it wasn't for your quick thinking, then all of us would be doing our own thing rather than working as a unit."

"I-EEEH!" Knowing how this will play out, Ruby Rose braced herself for another pillow to the face by the last member of her team. "Uh?"

Looking at Blake, the cat Faunus did not throw her pillow like the rest. Instead, Blake was trying her best to cover her mouth before she couldn't hold it any longer and started to laugh.

To see Blake, the quietest and most mysterious of the team, turn to a giggling girl made a chain reaction for the rest of the Huntresses to follow suit. Laughing at how silly they've been acting, the first to stop was Weiss who wiped a stray tear from her eye.

"Ok, pity party over. Now, did everyone get it out of their system?"

Everyone in the room nodded their heads.

"Good, so how about we stop blaming about what we did in the past and work on how we can approve ourselves next time it happens?"

The entire team agrees silently with each other.

"Great." She smiled once that this was past them. "I think the first thing we should do is tell Pyrrha and her team about helping us."

"Sounds like a good way to increase our numbers." Yang shifted from laying on her bed to sitting on it. "I mean, the more the merrier is fine by me. Sun and Neptune joined us, so it doesn't sound too bad to have more help."

"Then we'll do it after they're done with class. Maybe even message them, the headmaster did say that we are limited to the people who can talk to us. " Blake added her own thoughts. "Maybe when they reach their room, or else, we have to deal with the paparazzi."

"Yeah, and we're already on thin ice as it is." Yang remembered how at the police station, one of the officers, Officer Stacy, if she recalls, told them to lay low and not cause any more trouble. "Even though the people at the bridge saw us, it was still dark out, and I'm sure most of them forgot how we look. It was... what? Three... maybe four days ago? Whatever the day is, I'm sure people have already forgotten how we all look."

"Easy for you to say." The well-known heiress groaned. "Do you know anyone else with natural snow-white hair? Or maybe someone else with a family name famous for Dust? If anyone here is going to be noticed after the debacle we did, it's going to be me."

"Ozpin did say that that he'll try and make sure our names won't be revealed." The cat Faunus tried to give out some good news. "We are still technically minors, so they can't really hold us in court. I mean, yeah, we did help in destroying the highway, but no one was badly hurt or… something worse."

"And we all know who we should thank for that." Ruby Rose looked away from her team and to the newspaper clipping on her side of the room.

"In the end, I was wrong about him." Blake looked at Weiss as if she grew an arm out of her belly button. "Don't mistake it as me turning into a fan like you and Ruby. I said I was wrong about him cutting ties with you. He's still considered a vigilante, and nothings changing my mind about that."

"I'm not a fan." Blake corrected Weiss. "Still..." The bow wearing girl hugged her pillow. "It was still pretty amazing how he was able to do everything on his own."

"Yeah..." The youngest in the team agreed with no hesitation. "Looking past the group of people saying mean stuff about us, Spider-Man has saved so many during all of that."

Normally before all of this, if they heard about a single person being able to save that many people, then the team sans Ruby would be hard pressed to believe it.

Every girl in the room knows that while being trained as a Huntress, they must expect losses to happen when they graduate out of Beacon.

Qrow himself made sure he reminded Ruby that every time they trained together, it even helped her believe in that fact when living outside of Vale.

That same mindset her uncle put in her head so long ago, unfortunately, has come loose after spending so much time learning about Spider-Man.

Perhaps it's because of too many stories her father told her as a kid, about heroes saving the day and getting a happy ending. Or it was seeing Spider-Man on the news or in action might have made her delusions of grandeur take root.

But likely, she wanted to believe what her father told her about her mother and how she was also one of those heroes that saves the day.

"And that just gives us more motivation to train harder!" She pumped her arms in the air. "We're training to be a full fledged Huntress, so that means we can't slack off! Starting now, we're going to work even harder than before!"

"I hope that means you'll start getting more focused in the knowledge part rather than the combat." Ruby's partner said. "Because you're still lacking in that department." She bluntly told her without any sugar.

Cheeks getting red for being called out about her general studies, the rest of the girls chuckled at their team leader's flustering.

Their team bonding moment was soon cut short when Weiss's scroll began to sound off. Reaching for her device, she read the caller's I.D to see who was calling her and paused at who it was.

 _'Father.'_ The young Schnee stared at her scroll. _'Why is he calling again? Usually, he only calls once and only once. He once said to me, that if the person isn't picking up the call from a Schnee, then they aren't worth calling again.'_

"Can't he take a hint?" Weiss mutters under her breath. Looking back to her team who are still teasing Ruby, the pony-tailed girl pressed the 'end' button and set her scroll aside.

 **(KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!)**

Hearing someone knocking on their door, all four girls looked at their only entrance and then looked at each other in confusion.

"That's weird," Yang was the first to speak. "Professor Goodwitch already gave us today's paperwork, so who's the one at our door?"

"I'll get it!" Wanting to get out of her embarrassment, Ruby zoomed straight to the door, reached for the handle, and opened it just wide enough to peek outside. "Hello?"

While Ruby was at the door, the three other girls started to talk amongst each other.

"You think it's your Uncle?" Blake asked her partner.

"I don't know? What time is it?" Yang asked both Weiss and Blake.

"It's close to around 9 in the morning." Weiss pressed her scroll to check the time.

"Then no. I'm sure he's somewhere right now, drinking."

"Didn't he still drink when he came to check up on you and Ruby?" Yang's partner said.

"He tries to drink less when around family, but when he's alone, _that's_ when he starts drinking." The buxom blonde clarified.

"How about Ozpin?" Weiss tried to guess on who's at the door.

"Might be, but he told us that he won't be coming often because the Council keeps calling for him." Yang shot down the snow-haired heiress' question.

"Um... Weiss?" Ruby closes the door and cuts off her team from guessing who she was talking to. "There's someone here for you."

Getting out of her bed, the rich girl walked to the door and grabbed the handle.

But before she opened it, Weiss questioned Ruby. "Can you tell me what he looks like?" She asked. "I don't want to open the door and find out it was just some photographer lying to you so he can get pictures of me."

"Well... he kind of looks really important." Ruby used hand gestures to help her explain. "He's wearing a dark blue business suit and-oh! Bald! Really bald!"

"Someone wearing a business suit is something I see at home, but bald…" Putting a finger under her chin, a light bulb lights up in her head at who might be on the other side.

Opening the door, Weiss greeted the stranger with her best smile she always uses.

"Weiss!" Just as Ruby described, a tall, bald man smiled at the Schnee and placed his arms on her shoulder. "It's good to see you again! My, you've certainly grown a few more inches since you've been here!"

"It's good to see you, Mr. Stane." Taking a back step, the elegant Huntress curtsied. "I can't believe you're here."

 _'Why are you here?'_ Her eyes asked him.

"You know this guy, Weiss?" Never seeing Weiss this polite except for the teachers, Yang walked up to them, so she can get a better look at the man. "He's kind of a bit old to be your butler."

Dropping her gentle smile into a sneer, Weiss gave Yang the stink eye and whispered in the blonde's ear.

"You clod! That's one of my father's business partners, Obadiah Stane!"

"You make it sound important, but I never heard of him to care as much." Yang whispered back.

"All you need to know, is that he works close to my dad and is one of the richest, maybe even the second most influential man in Atlas." She explained. "Now, if you don't mind…"

Gently pushing herself away from Yang, Weiss turned back to Mr. Stane and put up her usual professional façade.

"If I knew you would be here, then I would have made sure our living quarters would be up to standards."

"Now, don't worry, Weiss." Stane stepped in and looked around the room. "I'm not a stickler like your sister, I'm here to make sure you're ok. Even asked your father if I can leave Atlas for a bit to make sure you're doing fine."

 _'No wonder he tried to call me.'_ Weiss bit the inside of her cheek. _'Of course he watched the news about what happened with the Paladin. I'm stupid to think that he stopped trying to take me back home, Stane only proves it by coming here.'_

"Speaking about siblings, I think you'll enjoy hearing that one of them also tagged along."

"You mean..." The Schnee looked ecstatic. "Winter is here!?"

"No." He laughed at how quickly she can show her true emotions so quickly. "Another one of your siblings. One who really missed you the most, Weiss."

 **(KNOCK! KNOCK!)**

"Ah! Speak of the devil, there he is now."

 _'He? Oh, no. Not him.'_ Her enthusiasm deflated, Weiss turned around to see someone she thought she didn't had to see for a while.

Turning her body to face the door, she immediately did a double take at what she was seeing and who was leaning on the door frame.

The person leaning on the door frame looked like him, only he seemed taller, more athletic too, but the telltale features of snow white hair and arctic color eyes was already a dead giveaway at who he was.

"Hello, dear sister." The young boy strolled into the room and ignored the rest of her team. "I'm glad I can see you again."

As if to add another new trait from him, the boy then proceeded to give Weiss a hug before retreating to give her some air.

Completely off caught off guard by this development, the eldest Schnee in the room could only stare in shock at who was in front of her now.

"Whitley?" She sounded like she herself can't believe who she was looking at. "You look…"

"Different?" The youngest in the family decided to humour her and did a full turn to show her how much he's matured. "You didn't expect me to be the same, would you?"

Adjusting his tie, Weiss could see he was wearing a pitch-black shirt underneath his usual white and blue apparel.

"I'll have you know, I didn't stop growing while you were away from Atlas." He let out a calm and collected business man aura.

* * *

 **Author's note.**

 **Well, things are starting to move forward with a new added visitor in the mix. Hope you like the surprise guest at the end of this chapter, though I'm sure some of you knew this was coming. Anyway, this chapter is just Beacon's side on how they're dealing with RWBY's public disaster and also the team themselves trying to get past it.**

 **I also wanted to make it some what realistic on how Beacon treats their students. I remember in the first episode Ruby was in an interrogation room, that was why I had Qrow make that reference. Another thing about them being in house arrest is that Ozpin withheld information about them, since I believe that since he's the headmaster of the school, then he should be the one to say it in his own words and not have it spoken by the news and have them shape it in a different outtake to the public.**

 **Apologies to some of you if you thought this chapter would be more angst with team RWBY, but I'm sure we all had our fair share of every show and other stories that play it out too many times. I also don't want people to think that I'm bashing on their favorite characters (Even though Ruby Rose is my top pick).**

 **I wanted to make this chapter a few days ahead so I can add in the news and how they're getting results on how well Spider-Man is becoming. For the team, I also know that some people still have some doubts that they are fully responsible, but I can at least only half agree.**

 **Even though Roman did cause some heavy collateral damage, RWBY also caused some problems that can still be considered to be dangerous to the public. With Weiss forming ice on the dense highway road, Blake jumping on cars, the fog they made, and also how they don't even react to the people in trouble can still hold a great weight on them to carry. B** **ut, since we're dealing with Ozpin and the Council, then they will try to curve the situation to lessen the blame the people accuse them of. Their still in a form of house arrest, but the only thing they can do is still go out in Vale and not really go anywhere in the Academy. With a technicality of them partically not responsible, they still have some freedom, they just have to lay low and not get noticed as much.**

 **Weiss, being the one who will likely be the most targeted due to her status as heiress, will lead her father to make sure her problem won't reflect the SDC. Following up to why I had Obadiah Stane finally showing up, since he's here to help her not get in court, followed by Whitley who wants to visit his sister. I'm sure you guys also noticed the slight changes I gave him, well that's because I don't like how RWBYverse already written him off as some bad guy. I wanted to write him as someone who really did change while Weiss was gone and I'm sure you guys will soon see how much he changed.**

 **This chapter may seem short compared to the previous one, and the reason for that is that I'm trying to push out chapters a lot more faster. Hope you guys liked what I did to the team and also with the Beacon staff and if you're new, follow, fav, and leave a review on your thoughts on this chapter.**

 **I like to thank my beta for helping me get this chapter fixed up and you should check his stories to see his work of fanfiction. Thank you.**

* * *

 **(Omake: The Pizza. Part 3)**

Right where we left off, Jaune, the owner of the house, a mad man with a bow, and a now dead mercenary were all in a single room. For the webhead, fighting people with the intent to kill was his usual day at work, but since he is still Jaune Arc, he has to play the role as a helpless victim.

 _'If I find a solution without having to resort to fighting, then who is going to give me the Lien for the pizza?'_ He thought to himself as the man notched a bow and aimed it at the center of Jaune's head.

"Thought Deadpool would've already killed you guys, but I'll just step up to the plate and do it myself. Need to keep up appearances and you two are loose threads."

 _'No choice, I need to get this man away to safety!'_ Tensing his leg muscles to dodge the arrow, the corner of Jaune's eye caught sight of the now dead mercenary moving. _'Focus, that must have been the wind or muscles on the dead body finally going into rigor mortis.'_

"Can you at least tell me why you're trying to keep up appearances?" Jaune stalled for time. "Never even heard about you around these parts. I usually hear about Spider-Man. Speaking about him, I'm sure he'll come soon and save us."

"I won't take long in killing you guys." The bowman still held firm on his arrow. "I'll be heading back to Atlas to get back to my original job, not that you'll know since you'll be dead."

 _'Someone hired him? To kill Deadpool?'_ Looking back at where the dead body was, Jaune soon quickly closed and reopened his eyes to see if he was not crazy. _'The body, where did it go!?'_

Focus now disrupted, Jaune's eyes were no longer on the arrow as it was soon released and was heading right between his eyes.

"Bang!" Someone shouted as a bullet intercepted the arrow, causing it to hit the wall behind the pizza boy.

"I can't believe they sent someone like Hawkeye to kill me?!" The new resurrected Deadpool said with both sadness and joy. "Finally, maybe I can start getting into the main storyline soon!"

Reaching for another arrow, Deadpool used the small delay to charge at the killer and slammed him on the ground. "Though, I thought I would see you more Jeremy Renner or voiced by Troy Baker."

 _'Ok, I think I filled up enough on whatever they're talking about.'_ Using this as a chance to take the also confused civilian out of the house with both crazies too busy to notice them.

"I need you to call the police! Also!" Jaune said in a serious tone. "A reminder, it'll be around 12 Lien for the pizza, plus tip." He also said with a stony face.

"I left my phone in my house." The owner of the house raised a shaking finger at the house now being filled with arrows and gunfire.

"Who leaves their phone in one place? We practically shove it in our faces 24/7!" Calming himself down, Jaune gave him a different order. "Go to a pay phone or if you see a squad car, try to get its attention."

"What about you?" He asked.

"I'll go in a different direction, it can go faster that way. Now go!" The pizza guy shouted.

Seeing the owner of the property run to get help, Jaune waited a couple of seconds before running the opposite direction. Stopping between two houses, Jaune checked to make sure no one was around before heading to his bike that was owned by his boss. Hanging from the bike handle was his backpack that also housed his costume. Opening the bag, Jaune quickly suited up and web lined back to where the action is.

"Ok, time to wrap... this...up?" Arriving to the house, he looked on as the building was now on fire, even though he was only gone fore a couple of minutes.

"Seriously, what the #!%* is going on?!" Spider-Man shouted and then proceeded to jump through the window and into the blazing fire. Landing in a crouch, Spider-Man scanned the area to see that Deadpool is fighting the unmasked bowman.

With a new challenger appearing in the house, both killers looked to see that Spider-Man was now in the burning house with them.

"Spidey! Good to see you!" Deadpool said while grappling with the man who 'killed' him. "I just found out that it wasn't Jeremy Renner or Troy Baker!"

To show what he means, the merc did his best to shift his opponent to have Spider-Man see his face that had a large circle on his forehead.

"He's Bullseye!" He said in triumph before the man called: Bullseye broke Deadpool's hold and gave a swift right rook.

Seeing both maniacs duke it out, fire getting worse and worse, Spider-Man said what his mind was screaming at him to say.

"Who's **Bullseye!?** "


	23. Chapter 23

**Disclaimer: Brotherhoof12 does not own RWBY or Spider-Man.**

* * *

 **(Chapter 23: Blame Game)**

* * *

Weiss was the middle child of the Schnee Family. Her mother, a woman passing her life with drinks, her father the business man and nothing else, an older sister she idolizes as long as she can remember, and then there's her little brother.

"So, you're my big sister's partner." Whitley circled around Ruby who was at attention. "I thought you'd be… taller."

"Well, uh-um, sir." She stuttered a respectful tone. "I drink… milk."

"Hmm..." He put a fist under his chin as he continued to stare at Ruby who was about to break her bearing. "Well, I'm glad my sister has a partner who cares about taking care of one's intake on dairy."

Seeing that he approves of her answer, the short Huntress used that as a sign to relax and not act like there was a sharp blade under her-

"But." The youngest Schnee spoke abruptly. "Study finds high **milk** consumption is linked to higher mortality and hip fractures. So I'd be careful the next time you think of taking another drink before going to bed."

Ruby looked horrified at what she just learned. Whitely left her partner's shocked state and continued to look around the room.

' _Well, that was half the expectation I thought would play out.'_ Weiss thought to herself as she continued to stare at her brother. _'Still, I thought he would already look at this place as uncouth or droll. But he looks like he's interested in what's in here. How?'_

Far as she can remember, Weiss always remembered Whitley to be the usual annoying little brother back when they were kids. Always coming to her room and talking to her, not even knocking on her door when she was to be left alone after she had another argument with father.

' _He grew **up**.' _She saw her brother stop at her bed and saw that it was a bit ruffled when she was laying on it and decided to fix it, showing the slim muscles he was hiding under his usual clean clothes for anyone to see. ' _He grew **out**. Was I really gone for that long? Did he really change so much that he looks like this?'_

She always thought that she would see her older sister, Winter, be the one to see her in Beacon. See her young sister as a developing Huntress alongside her outstanding team as they become well known and well respected in Beacon.

"My, what..." The rich young boy stared at one of Yang's poster of the Achieve Men hanging on the wall. "Down to earth vibe this place gives out. Really love how each corner gives off different feeling but blends together quite nicely."

"Gee, thanks." Yang used her index finger to scratch the tip if her nose. "Surprised to see someone in Ice Queen's family who can appreciate a cool band like them."

"Believe me, I have my fair share of music." Moving to the next thing that caught his eye, the white-haired boy stepped in front of a bookshelf and randomly took one off the shelf. "I'm even well versed in lit-"

 **(SNAP)**

Just as he opened the book titled 'Ninja of Love', Whitley soon closed the book loud enough for everyone in the room to be startled.

"Well," He placed the book back where he pulled it and made a cough to disrupt the awkward silence he created. " _Almost_ , well versed on literature. I regret that I'm still too young to understand most artworks books give us."

"That is unfortunate." Blake said to the young Schnee, her bow slightly folded.

"Yes, well, I do try to be more open minded of things, so I'm happy to know that my sister has a wonderful team here in Beacon!" He then gave a smile to the three girls, a smile so _genuine_ , that even Weiss became even more surprised that he said all of that without his usual sarcastic tone.

"Isn't that right, Mr. Stane?" Directing their attention away from him, all four girls looked at the only adult in the room who was staying in a corner with his back facing them.

"Yes, that's..." Stane was no longer paying attention to the young group and was talking to someone on his scroll. "And I want to make sure it's completely vacant, yes, that's right. I-"

Feeling like there was eyes on him, Stane turned his head to see that the only boy was now looking at him.

"Just make sure you get it ready soon!" He whispered back to whoever was on the other line and hung up. "Terribly sorry about that, children! Just needed to make some arrangements."

"You two have plans?" Blake spoke in her usual stoic tone, the same way she used to speak to her team when they all first met. The black-haired Faunus may have started to be friends with Weiss Schnee, but Blake soon regressed back to her old self when confronted with another, more younger part of the Schnee family.

' _We all can't change that quickly, I guess.'_ For once, not really blaming Blake to be a bit apprehensive towards her little brother. _'Well, mentally, I suppose.'_

"We don't plan on staying here for long." He told the girl wearing the black bow.

"You guys are leaving?" Weiss asked instantly, a second later she caught herself by asking a follow up question. "Is it regarding another Dust dealership with the school?"

' _I hope no one noticed how I was eager to ask them when they're leaving.'_ Weiss thought to herself. _'Idiot! Can't believe I sounded relieved that there're leaving!'_

Looking back at her little brother, she caught a glimpse of him staring at her in contempt, but soon changed his complexion by giving her his usual small smile.

' _Did he also catch that?'_ Weiss had a pit growing in her stomach. _'Why do I feel so bad about it? Last time I saw him, he was the same annoying sneaky brother. I always felt like there was something he was hiding and would smile like he was the only one smart person in the room.'_

Soon, images of her first time in Beacon and how she treated her friends came to remind her that she wasn't too different.

' _Ok, maybe I'm getting too harsh on him, maybe he really did change. He at least changed physically, but I'll still keep an eye out for anything strange coming from him.'_

"Not just us, Weiss." Stane put back his device on his suit pocket. "All of you girls are coming too!"

"We are!?" The team asked, each one asking a different question.

"What about staying low?"

"Where are we going?"

"Will people start throwing stuff at us?"

"Did Ozpin give us the green light to leave our room?" Weiss asked the most wanted question to her father's business partner. "He's the headmaster, and we can't leave this room and go out in broad daylight. Not unless we are supervised an-"

"About your supervision," Stane walked close to her brother and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, I talked to a group of people that has a far more reach than your headmaster, and I'm sure they're talking to him right now."

The girls looked at one another, confused at who their headmaster was talking to right now.

"Now, let's not worry about such minor detail." The older gentleman opened the door and motioned the girls to go first. "We have an important meeting soon, and I know you four wouldn't want to miss it."

Hesitant on leaving the premise without hearing the say so from their teachers, the first to leave the room was the Heiress when her brother decided for her.

"Come on, Weiss!" Whitley held her hand, she is once again, stunned at how he was his usual prim and proper act that was soon dropped with someone who's showing true emotions to her. "I want to hear what you've been up to these days!"

"F-fine," Weiss conceded to her little brother's plea. "If Mr. Stane said that he already talked to someone above Ozpin, then he's telling the truth, Mr. Stane wouldn't lie about this."

With one of them going out the door, her partner soon followed, making way for Ruby's sister to also walked out of the door.

Blake stayed behind for a moment, her thoughts still wondering just how many strings this Stane fellow pulled to let them go out.

"Blake, let's go!" Her partner said while halfway out the door.

' _Meh, I guess this is fine.'_ Reluctantly setting her foot out, Blake trailed behind them as the girls followed Stane to the parking lot. _'Who knows? Maybe I might run into Jaune.'_

* * *

"Hurry up and run, gentlemen!" The P.E Teacher screamed at the slowest students who were running on the school track field. "Your classmates are waiting for you!"

By waiting, he meant those who finished had to do jumping jacks and pushups until every student finished running 12 laps around the track.

To show that he was telling the truth, Jaune's classmates started to voice their thoughts on the weak links of the class.

"Hurry up, dude!"

"Come on, man! This is stupid!"

"Pick up the pace!"

"Are you even trying right now!?"

While some complained and shouted at them to run faster, the more athletic students began to hurl insults at how they're so slow.

"Come on, Jauney boy!" Flash Thompson raised his voice as he kept a steady pace on push up. "I know exercise is a foreign thing to you, but you should know that it's also important to be healthy rather than always sticking your head in books."

As soon as Flash set his sights on him, the rest of Flash's mob squad followed suit.

"This is so sad."

"How can someone that isn't fat be this bad at running?"

"I am so going to laugh when they start vomiting after they're done running."

Many sounds mixed together, all aiming at Jaune and his fellow 'weaklings' and their inability to keep up in P.E class. Those insults and encouraging words just landed on deaf ears, as Jaune continued the same pace, more preoccupied with personal matters than dealing with physical education.

If he was still his old self, then he would surely be exhausted by now. Don't get him wrong, he can run even before he was bitten, but if he tried as he is now, then people would start talking.

Students in his class will spread word that the wall flower that is Jaune Arc was so fast, then people will begin to look at him in a different light. He might be asked to be on track, could get a scholarship, or even scouted to be part of the Olympics if he decided to go for it.

"Come on, Jaune!" Harry used the last of his strength before he flopped back down to do another push up. "You can do it!"

' _Thanks, Harry.'_ The blonde hero silently thanked his friend but kept the same pace. _'If you only knew what I'm doing, then I'm sure you'd make me do your homework until you forgive me.'_

Jaune never really thought much on running fast, he usually performs acrobatic movements while webslinging. He doesn't really know how fast he can run, but he was positive that if he really wanted to, he can keep up with a sports car.

Maybe even faster, if he needed to.

' _Last lap and I'm around second to last.'_ Jaune was behind another fellow lightweight trying his best to run faster and behind the blonde hero, was a student a few pounds heavier. _'Guess I should go a little bit faster. I may want to look like a wimp, but I have at least some pride!'_

Pushing his legs just a little bit harder, the disguised spider themed hero outran the person in front of him and finished his last lap.

Finally finished, Jaune placed his hands on his knees and took in a couple of deep breaths to fill up his lungs. Lungs that are perfectly fine and can keep running, but to keep his 'loser' persona intact, Jaune continued to play the part of the unfit nerd.

Seconds later, the other two students that were with Jaune also finished, signaling the teacher to end the workout.

"Ok." The teacher blew his whistle to let rest of the male's students to stop exercising. "Now that the rest of the boys finished, all of you can hit the showers! Jaune, you stay back, I need to speak to you."

As the rest of his classmates walked back inside, Jaune was left alone with his teacher who gave him a neutral stare.

"Listen, son." He dropped his rough and spoke in a more normal tone. "I don't want you to feel bad about what Flash and his friends said to you, but I'm going to be real with you. If you want them to stop, then you need to try and stop giving them ammo for them to fire at you."

' _If I was trying, then you'd probably ask me to join the football team.'_ Jaune thought to himself. "I understand, sir, I'll try and get better."

"You do that." The gym teacher gave a look of approval for Jaune agreeing with him. "It's a cruel world out there, so you have to toughen up your body that can match your smarts, too."

' _If you're trying to give me a pep talk, then how come you didn't tell the two guys who were slower than me the same thing? Or did you already label them as a 'lost cause'...?'_

Nodding his head, Jaune walked past the teacher go back inside the gym. When he entered, he can already see the girls of his class already finished with gym and was dressed up in their civilian clothes.

One of the girls saw Jaune staring at them, making them to start whisper amongst the rest of the girls. The group soon started to giggle at whatever they were whispering about, making the secret hero drop his head low at the possibility that they were talking about him.

"Well," He grumbled to himself as he walked into the boy's locker room. "I knew keeping up with appearances will get me this type of shame."

Heading to where his temporary locker is, Jaune placed his code in, opened the locker, and started to undress. Removing his sweating clothes to place his regular ones back on, Jaune grabbed his scroll out of his backpack to see what time until lunch started.

"Close to ten minutes before we hit for the cafeteria." Putting all his belonging in his bag, the blonde closed the locker and headed outside. "Maybe I can sit far enough so I don't have to hear people talk about how I embarrassed myself today."

With him being the last to get dressed, everyone else was already in their civilian clothes, sitting at the end of the rafters that was close to the exit. Jaune's friend was sitting a few feet away from everyone else, so spotting him was easy enough.

"Hey man." Jaune gave his friend an easy-going smile. "Having thoughts on what they're serving today?"

"Like I can ever remember what type of food they serve every day." Harry placed a hand under his chin to show his boredom. "Besides, you should know more about it, since you pack lunch and eat the cafeteria food."

"Eh." Jaune shrugged his shoulder. "I'm a healthy, growing boy."

' _A growing boy who needs a steady intake on food to help his healing factor.'_

"I feel like you shouldn't worry about eating and more on the something that's coming very soon."

"Really?" The blonde boy asked in interest.

"Yeah, it's super important if we want to get out of our loser status and try and be cooler." Opening his school bag, Harry gave Jaune a piece of paper. "There's going to be a dance soon and we need to get a date."

"You do know that the girls from our class are still laughing about me failing at running, right?"

"Well, those girls don't have to be the one! I mean, there's more fish in the sea, we just need to find a girl and lower our expectations." Harry reasoned with his friend.

"You make it sound like we're desperate to find a girl to dance with us."

Harry made a flat look to his friend. "Fair enough, I stand corrected."

"This shouldn't be hard for you, what about that Huntress that wanted to talk to you?"

"Did you not have the front row seat of the awkward chemistry Blake and I had? You even pointed at her and told me that she was boring."

"You know how it is, Jaune." He waved his hand at his past thoughts on meeting Blake. "She's perfect! Blake likes not talking, it gives her that badass vibe! I'm not saying that it's better for her to not talk while she's your date, but it can totally make you less like a loser and more like some cool dude that bagged a hottie like her!"

' _I can't argue with that. Girls as hot as Ruby and her team shouldn't be Huntresses, they should be movie starts! Heck, it would blow my mind if they tell me they're average looking compared to other female students attending Beacon.'_

"I don't think she would even humor me about being my date." Jaune said to Harry.

"Maybe," The rich teen was in deep thought. "Oh! I know a way for us to make us look better!"

"What? Try being less of our weird selves?"

"No!" Moving his thumb to his left, Jaune followed where it was pointing at Flash and his fellow football players. "We can try out for the football team!"

' _He can't be serious.'_ The secret hero stared at his friend who showed no signs of lying. _'Son of a… he is!'_

"Have you also forgotten that I barely made it through gym class today?"

"Well..." Jaune's friend started to look like he was guilty for something. "I was hoping you can help me look better when we try out for football."

"So, let me get this straight." He set his hand in front of him. "You want me, the guy who sucks at gym class, to join you to try out for the football team, by making you look better. Didn't you say not ten seconds ago that _we_ need to have a better image in school to get girls?"

"And that's still the plan!" He sounded offended that Jaune would throw him under the bus like that. "I just worded everything all wrong. What I'm trying to say, is that we both will help each other through try outs. If one of us is bad at one thing, then we help the other excel at it."

"Giving us a better chance for them to pick both of us and not just one." The secret hero explained the rest of what Harry was saying.

' _Still, if I do have a chance to join, I'll be noticed more and my rep for being just a simple bookworm will be over.'_

Jaune's ear's twitched when he heard his name coming from one of the girls a few seats away from them.

Instinctively, Jaune looked to where he heard his name being called and saw that some of them were still giggling.

With some being brave enough to look at him for a second then back to whispering amongst themselves.

' _Ok, maybe I'm overselling the whole 'weak bookworm' a little too much. I guess it's ok to change how people look at me in school. But, I won't go overboard, I'll use just enough to be able to look good, but not star quarter back good.'_

"Ok." The blonde raised his hand to Harry. "I'm sold, let's try out for football."

"Nice!" Harry shook hid best friends hand with excitement. "I'm telling you, Jaune. We'll join the football team with no effort. I mean, who's 'gonna spot us?"

"What'd you say!?" Their small chance of joining for the football team was stopped, when a familer shout placed them back to reality.

' _Why did you have to ask that, Harry?'_

Already getting ready to get trashed talked by their senior bully, Jaune turned to face him but saw that Flash was still sitting with his fellow jocks.

"Dude, chill out." One of Flash's friends said. "I'm just saying the truth."

"What!?" Flash Thompson pointed at his friend who was holding a scroll with a picture as the screen. "You can't be serious!? How is Iron Man better then Spider-Man!?"

"Are you seriously asking me who's better?" The Iron Man fan was the one to start asking questions."

"How is Spider-Man, a guy who shoots webs, better than a man who can fly and shoot laser beams? It's like your comparing a chihuahua to a Great Dane."

"Spider-Man is not a chihuahua! He's super-fast, super strong, and he's just so cool! Plus, we can see him swinging from building to building like it's no problem to him. Iron Man on the other hand, is some pile of bolts that when caught in the rain he'll malfunction." Flash counter argued.

"I don't see Spider-Man saving villages and stopping falling planes."

"That's because he's too busy saving Vale from the White Fang, Roman, and other amazing feats you don't see from Iron Man. I mean, Iron Man just started getting noticed and people are already dropping Spider-Man like he's yesterday's news, talk about disloyalty."

"Hey, it's not like I don't like Spider-Man." The Iron man fan put both hands in front of him to show he means no disrespect to the web head. "It's just that, Iron Man just seems so cool compared to the guy. And, well, it just started to get pretty old cheering on some guy dressed as a bug."

"That's beside the point!" As Flash started another reason for why Iron Man isn't better then Spider-Man, Jaune turned to his friend who was also surprised to see Flash this passionate.

"For a moment, I thought he heard us talk about joining the team." Harry let out a sigh of relief.

"He's going to find out when he sees us anyway." Jaune reminded Harry that Flash is also part of the football team. "Other than that, did you hear what he said? About Iron man? Do you know about that?"

"Well, yeah. I heard about him, but not much is known about him. He usually stays in Atlas, but what happened in Mistral made himself more known to the other kingdoms. I think some videos were seen on the net, but Vale hasn't made any coverage on this 'Iron Man' yet."

Jaune was left silent when his friend said that this new hero was discovered in Atlas and was also recently seen in Mistral. He usually hears people talk about Spider-Man, so after knowing there was someone else in Remnant doing heroic acts made him feel a little bit ignorant.

' _Can I really call myself ignorant? I mean, I don't watch news other than Vale, so I at least have an excuse about me not knowing that Iron Man exists.'_

From the look Jaune was making, Harry nodded his head and spoke with understanding.

"To be fair, I didn't hear about him until my dad talked about it on the phone. One of his branches in Atlas called him about Dust being robbed and was then returned thanks to some guy in armor."

Hearing about Dust being robbed made Jaune's posture to straighten up. His mind going to the one person that could be responsible.

' _Does Roman have enough reach to pull that off? No, there should be a group rather than just one person stealing so much dust. I should tell Harry about the weapons the White Fang had in possession.'_

"Did your dad mention anything else when he was talking to whoever was on the phone?" Jaune asked his friend. "The news did say about Atlas weapons was found in a rally for Faunus trying to join the White Fang. Did your father talk about that?"

"No, he just talked about how the delay in the loss of Dust would make him lose percentage of trust in the people of Atlas. Saying about how they'll think the SDC will be more reliable and more secure, but that's about it." Harry answered.

' _Guess I shouldn't be surprised. I'm sure Mr. Osborn will be more secretive if it involves something else besides dust. Other than that, maybe I should check the news later when I'm done with school.'_

On reflex, Jaune's hand moved to the main zipper of his back pack, opened it, and reached inside to feel the contents within.

' _Can't forget this thing either.'_ He peeked inside to see the reflective lenses of his Black Spider suit stare back at him. _'The new suit I have is great for scaring the average thug, but it feels unsuitable to swing in Vale during the day. I always feel like if I ever give a handshake someone might feel the sweat just leak out of my gloves!'_

Soon after, the school bell rang to signal the students to proceed to their next class room. Both boys walked into the main hallway and started their walk to whoever class they had next.

"We'll talk about this later, Jaune." Harry walked ahead when the main hallway started to split off. "I need to grab something form my locker."

"Ok, see you later, Harry." Waving his hand, Jaune's friend went his separate way and leaving the teen hero by himself. Reaching his next class, Jaune's mind started back on track about the main problem regarding his suit.

' _Lien. And that means I need a raise, which means I need to ask my bosses for a raise.'_

"Like that'll be any easier." Leaning over the class table, Jaune eyed the open door with more students entering, with some wearing shirts with his signature symbol.

"Huh." A stray thought just came to Jaune's mind. "I wonder how people would feel if Iron Man shows up?"

* * *

"WOW~!" An exited Ruby exclaimed as Whitley showed her a video that was recorded in Mistral. "I can't believe I didn't see this yet! And you say people are calling him 'Iron Man'?"

"Yup." The male Schnee pulled back his scroll and started to search more information about Atlas's own superhero. "Vale and Vacuo will get this information about Iron Man when the news officially gets more concrete evidence, but since he was spotted in Mistral the people who recorded him started to blaze through the internet."

"So cooool~!" The young huntress pusher her face closer to Whitley's scroll that showed witness testimonies of people who saw him up close. "Some of these are people he recused are back in Atlas, right?"

"Indeed, some of the villages he rescued had all sorts of problems!" The young man counted them by using his fingers as tally marks. "Be it Grimm, bandits, weapon smugglers, even the White Fang!"

"So cool!" The young girl said once more as she scanned the internet with forums dedicated to the flying hero.

"Wow, sis," Ruby's older sister used her height to snatch the scroll over Ruby's head. "Thought you were a diehard Spider-Man fan. Decided to switch fandoms?"

"No way, Yang." Ruby shook her head to deny such claims. "Spider-Man will always be my favorite superhero, it's just that my inner weapons geek is totally freaking out over Iron Man's tech!"

"No fooling?" Curiosity took over as Yang read comments from people who were saved by him gave their tale of their hero. "He can fly _and_ shoot lasers out of his hands!? No wonder he's from Atlas, only a kingdom as advanced as them get a cool hero like Iron Man."

"I'm sure you're putting way too much credit for the suit he's wearing, Ms. Xiao Long." The rich teen corrected the blonde Huntress. "True, many people are commenting about how he can do incredible feats with the suit, but you have to wonder about the man wearing it. I mean, he or she, I'm keeping my mind open to the possibility, has to be a **_genius_** to craft such amazing technology before anyone else can think of such an idea as this."

"Wow," She gave the scroll back to Whitley. "No wonder you and Ruby get along so well. You two are fans of superheroes! I wonder what Weiss would feel about that since she doesn't really like vigilantes."

"Technically, Iron Man's wearing a helmet then an actually mask." He corrected her. "I believe the ones who are actually wearing a literal mask are the White Fang. And speaking about White Fang, the group has been getting more and more active here in Vale, much more then in Atlas."

Hearing the Schnee speak about the White Fang's increase activity in Vale, finally made Blake speak to the young baron.

"You shouldn't try whispering about stuff like this," Blake warned him. "Vale has been having a tough time dealing with the White Fang, so talking about it in public is bad thing to do."

"Public?" The white-haired young boy looked around and gave her a questionable look. "I'm sorry, but…"

He raised his arms to signify that they are the only ones.

"What public?" He placed his arm on his lap. "This place may be a very popular café, but we're the only ones here, minus the staff of course. Speaking about the staff, I'm still on the fence on what to eat, did you guys already decide?"

A bit put off on how the young Schnee tends to change the topic, Blake simply went along with his rant and picked up her own menu.

"He's got you there, Blake." Yang gave a side glance to her partner. "We have the place to ourselves! No need to worry about people looking at us when we're talking or eating, so lighten up."

Skimming through the Café's menu, Yang caught site of a dish she liked and was about to call one of the waiters to their table.

"Actually, let's wait." He put his menu down and started to talk some more. "Mr. Stane is still talking with Weiss and I don't want to be rude and get food before they do, so how about we just keep ourselves occupied till they're all here."

Blake placed her menu on the table and looked over her shoulder to see the bald tycoon talking with Weiss a few tables away from them. _'I wonder what they're talking about?'_

"Whooo! I can't wait to tell you about how our team is doing in Beacon." Ruby said to her partner's little brother. "Though, I'm sure she must have told you about all the crazy adventures we have, right?"

"…Of course," Just a split second, Blake could have sworn she saw a small frown on Whitley's face, but since it was within a small-time frame it just looked like his lips just twitched. "Weiss has always written letters about you guys, especially her partner."

"Really!?" The scythe user said in joy. "Did she say that we're best friend?!"

"No!" He gave her a sickly-sweet smile. Whitely soon saw his answer made Ruby's positive appearance dim down, causing the boy to swiftly fix his answer. "At first, she thought you were immature, but now she's really writing great things about you, all of you for being great teammates! I just wanted to see your reaction if I just gave you a simple answer."

"Oh good!" The leader of team RWBY relaxed. "We're also glad she's part of the team, too!"

"Heh, heh!" Yang snickered. "Got to say, I thought you'd be like Ice Queen, but you're less frosty then Weiss. It took me months to try and get a laugh out of her, now she's the one making small jokes now and then. Though, she still needs work on when to make one."

Rubbing the back of his head, Weiss's little brother lowered his head as an apology.

"Sorry." Again, she thought she caught a glimpse of him frowning, only to have him wear a small smile. "To be honest, I've been busy with some personal business of mine that I haven't caught up on reading the rest of them."

"It's ok," Blake decided to throw her own thoughts on the matter. "We've also been busy with personal matters, your sister included."

"Actually, Weiss never told us she had siblings." Ruby told Whitley. "She never really told us much about her family back at Atlas."

"Heh, yeah, that sounds just like Weiss alright." The young man lifted his head and gave the girls another smile. "Takes right after our older sister, or maybe it just runs in the family, maybe...?"

"She has an older sister?" Ruby was once again caught off guard by this sudden revelation.

"Yes, our older sister, Winter Schnee, is a specialist in Iron Wood's army!" The youngest of the Schnee family said with pride.

With the two youngest in at the table talking up a storm again, Blake was left alone with her thoughts and the information she received from Whitley. The most startling one, was how he sounded when Ruby told him that Weiss never talked about her family.

' _For a moment,'_ The black-haired Huntress looked at Whitey's smiling face. _'That smile he's wearing doesn't match how he speaks. Not one bit…'_

Moving her eyes to Yang, she was also not alone to see how Whitley was acting. Her partner may be the one who spouts hot air and terrible jokes, but she's a trained huntress, so spotting small things was no problem for her.

' _Pretty sure having a younger sibling also helps, too.'_ Blake mused. _'Regardless, I really shouldn't push my nose in family matters. We all have skeletons in out closet, and I'm not winning any 'best daughter of the year' awards. I mean, I did run away from my parents and decided to join a radical Faunus group.'_

"Since we're talking about siblings..." The buxom boxer put her hands under her chin and gave a cheshire smile. "Can we get some embarrassing stories about Weiss when she was younger?"

"I shouldn't talk about my dear sister behind her back, but..." Whitley mirrored Yang's expression. "There was this time when I caught her talking to her stuffed toys when we were little…"

Seeing Whitley interact with Ruby and Yang with ease, made the quiet girl wonder how their fourth member of the team is so strict and cold to them sometimes. This is their first time meeting the boy and already he's more inviting to talk to then Weiss ever was at the start of their year in Beacon.

' _Weiss has this air around her that lets people know she's rich and snobby, ok maybe I'm being a little bit harsh on her.'_ Blake does see Weiss drop her guard whenever the teams school. _'Yet, hearing her brother talk to us, compared to the first time we met Weiss, makes me wonder how they act so differently.'_

Blake always lumped people who are rich and have some political standing to be those who always look down upon others. With time and facing trouble, Weiss helped her see that it's not always so Black and White.

' _Makes me more curious as to why,'_ She looked back at where Weiss was sitting. The elder Schnee conversing with the only adult as if she was back to her old self. _'Why did Weiss look at Whitley like he wasn't her brother?'_

* * *

' _Back straight, control your breathing, and always make eye contact to show you are paying attention to whoever is talking to you.'_

Those tips kept echoing in her mind as she was 100% focused on the man talking to her. This man's posture, tone, and words oozed with authority, making anyone who listens to sit quietly and listen to him finish speaking.

He above all the people who work under her father deserves the most respect. After all, before my dad made a partnership, Mr. Stane had his own company that was the rival to the SDC. While her family was all about harvesting Dust, Mr. Stane had his fingers in every pie that he had his eyes on.

Science, Dust, and even weapons made him a very worthy rival to compete with the SDC. There were other famous tycoons, like Hammer industries who can take the spot light for second richest man in Remnant.

But, in Weiss' opinion, a man like Hammer who was born with a silver spoon can never really compete to Mr. Stane who made his business out of nothing.

' _Maybe that's why father choose to make a partnership with Obadiah rather than try and buy out his company. No matter what people say about my father, he's still a genius when it comes to cutthroat business practices.'_

Seeing his body move into a different position made the heiress snap back to attention. She was taught to always pay attention to someone posture and seeing Mr. Stane shifted his body to face her made the heiress see that he was about to talk ask her a question.

"So, Weiss." Her father's second in command smiled at her. "How is staying in Beacon? I hope it was everything you wanted."

"Beacon," She thought of a tactful way to vocalize her time at the academy without making the man have a panic attack. "Is a… fine establishment and I'm glad to be a student learning under great teachers who work there."

"That's very good to hear, my dear. Pardon me for a moment," The bald adult pulled out his scroll and then placed it on the table. "So sorry, I just needed to check on a message from someone and I would hate to miss it."

' _The person he's waiting to get a message from, can it be my father?'_ Deciding to ask now rather than later, Weiss bit the inside of her cheek before she asked him the question that has been bugging her ever since they arrived.

"Mr. Stain, by chance, the one you're waiting to hear from, is it…."

"Stop right there, young lady." Mr. Stane raised his hand to stop Weiss from asking any further. "I know you're anxious to know, but let me reassure you that it's not your father."

"But, he tried to call me a few weeks ago and even before you knocked on my door, too." She told him why she was so paranoid as to why she thought Jacques was the reason Mr. Stane and Whitley were here on the first place.

Stane sat quietly when he heard his friend once again trying to contact his second child. It was no surprise to him really, the man has already voiced his distaste for another child of his to go against his wishes. It was no concern to him really, all parents have their own issues with their children, luckily Stane only deals with having two.

' _At least Whitley is the most sensible child in the family. To at least put an effort to deal with their father's oppressive nature is a clear sign he's taking the SDC seriously.'_

Looking at Weiss, the man saw that she was trying her best to hide her fidgeting from him.

' _You were much more composed and in control when you were still in Atlas. Now, you're barely holding your posture. It's frightening to see how Beacon changed you so quickly, Weiss. Changed you for the better.'_

"Listen to me, Weiss." No longer in a stuffy business board meeting at the office, Stane falls back into his father role whenever he speaks to his kids. "I understand how you want to go out and be your own person, just like Winter did when she joined the military."

She attempted to speak, but Stane raised his hand to stop her.

"However, your youth and your yearning to experience the real world has cost you. That accident with the Paladin may as well fell to deaf ears to your father, but when people started to describe how you were there started to cause waves back home."

"Of course, that's why he would call so soon again." She muttered.

"If you think the people in Vale are bad, then you should know that Atlas is much worse. One drop of blood, just one, and the media will go crazy over it. Especially, if it involves the young heiress who will oversee the richest companies who supply Remnant with its only source for living and defenses against the Grimm."

He wasn't lying, almost every news channel back in Atlas won't stop talking about how a Schnee would disregard authority and cause such damage to another kingdom. It didn't stop there, people love to talk, especially those who love to see the Schnee family name get dragged in the mud.

"It was already bad enough to have people talk behind our backs regarding your mother's bad habits." Weiss looked down when Stane brought that topic up. "Now, we have people whispering about how your absence at home is a sign that you're being influenced by your mother's lack of control."

Once again, Stane wasn't lying, but rather then Weiss' mother being the catalyst for the second eldest sibling's departure, it was Winter's fault. Joining the military was a way for her to not accept the responsibilities of the company, she even made it more personal when she decided to not use her families standing to go through the ranks quicker.

Winter alone went through it all and is now a specialist in Iron Wood's armed forces, and that alone is probably how Weiss got it in her head to try her luck also.

"Yet," Reeling in his parental scolding, Stane let out a tired sigh and spoke. "I will not tell you to come home."

"Really?" She asked. "But, what you said about what's happening at home-"

"Is something you didn't think about." He saw guilt behind her eyes. "Weiss, we all have a desire that wants to be fulfilled and we sometimes don't think about who'll get hurt along the way."

"It's not like that," She whispered. "I always hear people talk bad about our family whenever they're not being total robots working alongside father. That's why I want to be a Huntress, to protect people and make the family name one where people don't insult it."

"And how did that work out?"

That question made the girl stop speaking, causing the only adult in the café to continue talking.

"Good or bad, it always has a price. I'm not stopping you from being a Huntress, Weiss." He saw his device lit up with a message showing a text saying, 'I'm here' before the screen went black. "That is why I called for someone to help you make a better image as you attend Beacon."

"Help? What type of help?"

 **(Ding-a-ling)**

"Ah, good." Stane adjusted his suit. "He's here on time. Weiss, I want you to meet the man who will help you in your pursuit to make the Schnee name even better."

"Ms. Schnee." J. Jonah Jameson placed a hand in front of her. "It's good to see you bouncing back from that terrible incident. It just proves that a woman so young can get right back up, truly inspiring!"

"T-thank you, Mr. Jameson." She politely grabbed his hand, shook it, and then placed her palms on her legs as the editor and chief of the Bugle sits himself between Stane and her.

"I had called earlier before arriving to Vale, so we can discuss how the Bugle can save your image after what happened with Roman piloting the stolen paladin." Stane nodded to J.J who did the same to the man who made this meeting possible. "You're right that you need to elevate the Schnee name, but not with just being a Huntress."

"He's right." J.J decided to talk about his plans for helping the heiress. "Not when everyone is more focused on that no-good villain, Spider-Man."

"Indeed, Spider-Man has spread so far to the other kingdoms, many people are now questioning about the Huntsmen's community and their ability to protect them from any threats." The bald adult said.

"And how does play into trying to make me and my team look less guilty?" She asked.

"Simple, Ms. Schnee." J.J smiled at the girl. "We tell them the truth!"

"The truth?" Weiss was more confused as to what the journalist was saying.

"That it was Spider-Man's fault, of course!"

"….. What!" Weiss clasped her mouth shut from her outburst. Looking over her shoulder, Weiss could see that her teammates looked over to her screaming. They all had a look of concern to them and just when Ruby was about to get out of her chair, Whitley placed a hand on her shoulder and talked them out of leaving their table.

"Please, Weiss, this may seem confusing."

"How can it be confusing, Mr. Stain?" Jonah reached in his pocket and placed his scroll on the table. "Spider-Man is a menace, while you and your team are the real heroes that saved the day! If it wasn't for you stopping the paladin, then Roman would have caused more danger before help arrived."

"But, the people who were at the highway." She gave out one flaw in J.J's summary.

"Was saved, by you!" Stain answered.

"How? I was part of the reason some were injured."

"Not intentionally," Stain spun the story around. "You were a Huntress who weighed the good from the bad on a deadline. You had no other option in your disposal, you saved the people from the highway thanks to the ice you made."

"Speaking about ice," Jonah pressed his scroll and he pressed a file on the main screen. "We saw no ice on the highway, making claims that you were the cause of the problem is invalid."

"Leading us to believe that the one who made the fog even worse was Spider-Man's doing."

"That's… not even true." She shook her head at how the two adults were already making plans for Spider-Man to be the true irresponsible one. "Me and Yang were the ones who made it first, people saw, they won't believe this."

"People always believe what they want to believe, Weiss. To them, they saw you girls as reckless individuals, while Spider-Man swoops in out of nowhere and they all see him as some symbol of true heroism."

"But us, the ones who really know the truth, see that Spider-Man is just some thug in a mask that used your effort in saving everyone as a way for him to look even better!" J.J scrunched up his face when he started to see photos of Spider-Man on his device. "That's why we'll make sure the real story is told and if this isn't enough, then we have another way to make people see you girls in a better light."

"I… I don't know how I should feel about this." She clenched her hands into fists.

"Just see it as a way for your goal to lift the Schnee name out of the mud go by a bit smoother." Stain used her reason for being in Beacon to make Weiss agree to his plan.

Before the heiress could throw another complaint, J.J's scroll started to vibrate showing a name on the screen of the person calling.

"Ah, that must be the boy we're waiting on, he must be nearby." Picking up the scroll, J.J cleared his throat before speaking to whoever's calling him. "Where are you? Your supposed to be here five minutes ago! I swear, if you're not here in one minute your fi-"

From the front door, another person practically pushed the entrance wide open that everyone looked at who caused such a loud entrance.

"I'm sorry," A familiar mop of blonde hair was that Weiss needed to know who this boy was. "I was caught up talking to….."

Frozen mid entering, Jaune looked at what was in front of him and saw that his boss was sitting next to a familiar heiress and some bald man.

"Jaune?" Looking to where he heard Ruby's voice, the hero in disguise saw the rest of team RWBY sitting in a separate table with someone who looks like Weiss if she was a boy then a girl.

"Hey Ruby," He waved awkwardly. "Good to see you guys again."

"Arc!" His boss screamed his last name, cutting off his conversation Jaune was trying to make with team RWBY. "I don't pay you to talk to people, I pay you to talk to important people, so get over here."

"But, you don't pay me to talk to-" Jaune stopped when he saw a vein bulging from J.J's forehead.

"Yes, Mr. Jameson!" Nodding his head as an apology for cutting it short, Jaune speed walked to the table where he boss was and pulled out a chair to sit down. "Again, I'm sorry for almost being late, I needed to talk to Mr. Macrren about a ra-"

"Don't worry about, you're here and that's all I need to know."

"Um," Finally having enough confusion on her plate, Weiss raised her hand to gain back the attention. "I'm sorry for interrupting and everything, but what exactly is going on here?"

Deciding to be the one to answer her question, Mr. Stain coughed in his hand and began to talk.

"If we want the people to see you and Huntsmen back in a good light, then we need more publicity. A way to show them that they should trust the new generation of aspiring Huntsmen." He then proceeded to lift a hand towards the new arrival.

"And who else better, then a civilian from the Bugle giving eye witness accounts at what it's like to be at Beacon!"

This time, it was Jaune who raised his hand to show he had a question.

"Yes, young man," Mr. Stain smiled at Weiss's personal reporter. "What is it you wish to ask?"

"Yes, hi, Mr. Stain," Jaune returned the man's smile with his own. "About the whole me going to Beacon bit."

Jaune looked at his boss right in the eye.

"Is it too late for me be fired?"

* * *

 **Ok, so I know most of you were not expecting this from me but let me explain. Pitch forks and torches down, people.**

 **For Whitley, he is not some super soldier, symbiote carrying, other form of Marvel hero some of you guys think. In the eyes of team RWBY, (Specifically Weiss) he is just a young boy who has changed physically from the last time she saw her little brother.**

 **I know some of you didn't expect to have his personality changed as well, but I feel like I can't fully grasp his personality due to RT not giving him much depth. They just labeled him as a 'mini Jacques' and left him there, no other background just like how they made other new characters in the show, they appear in one volume, but then the next volume they are no longer shown. I feel like if they do show up, it's either because fans demanded it or they plan to kill them off later.**

 **Anyway, another thing you might have noticed is how Jaune acts while in school, especially when it comes to physical fitness. Let's face it, if he really decides to go all out, then he would be the most popular kid in school. Popularity will lead him to be scouted, while other people will ask questions on how he was once the slowest to the strongest. Those will lead to rumors and gossip and then said rumors might make people outside of school speculate he might be more than just a teenager.**

 **See where I'm getting at? That's why he would still put on the façade, but he would at least put a small percentage just to make sure he wasn't that pathetic. In all honesty, if he was serious and went all out, then I would bet my money that he can handle almost about any character in the RWBY series.**

 **Not to toot my horn here, but we all know that Spider-Man holds back a lot of power, Peter even admits that and he wonders how far he can go. Heck, Kaine is stronger than him, but I think the reason is that Kaine doesn't hold that strong morality Peter does and therefore doesn't' hold back at all.**

 **For the football try outs, I figured that there was enough about Beacon and I should have Jaune experience normal high school. He's going to help Harry get into the football team but Jaune is still on the fence about committing to the idea.**

 **Speaking about committing, the dance for Midtown High will be arriving and Jaune needs to find a girl willing to go with him. You all know what that means, so I think I won't explain what might happen.**

 **Back to the story, the main topic now is back to Jaune's finances which means he needs to ask for a raise from his multiple jobs and the one job he hopes would pay him more is the Bugle. His boss on the other hand, helps Stane to try and clear Weiss and her team's bad name by making Jaune as their reporter like someone who will write down about what life is as a Huntress-in-training.**

 **I know he is a photographer, and I also know he doesn't have fond memories of Beacon, but if his boss wants him to go through such lengths, then that would mean he could be paid more. Also, since he works for the Bugle, there would be times that the boss would always send out a worker for jobs they might not like, but it's still a paying job nonetheless.**

 **I hope this can ease you all and help you understand why I have Jaune go to Beacon in a different way, but please share your thoughts in the comment section. Don't forget to like and follow to make sure your up to date on when the next chapter gets released.**

 **Big shout out to my Beta for helping me make this chapter more readable and I hope you guys check him out too! Thank you!**


	24. Chapter 24

**Disclaimer: Brotherhoof12 doesn't own Spider-Man or RWBY.**

* * *

 **(Chapter 24: Too much on my plate)**

* * *

"Is it too late for me to be fired?"

"..."

"..."

"…"

The table with three people sitting in the same table look on in shock at how serious the fourth person in the table is.

"What-"

"You know what?" Jaune cuts off his boss from speaking. "You're right. I shouldn't be asking."

Getting out of his chair, Jaune stood in full height and looked down at J.J like he does with all the other workers at the Bugle.

"I'm telling you, J.J, that I quit!"

Jaune then walked away with no regrets and passed by Ruby and the rest of their team as he walked to the exit.

"Wow..." Ruby said with stars in her eyes. "Jaune is so cool..."

"He really is." Blake agreed with a smile of satisfaction. "A girl would be lucky to have a guy like him."

"Now that is a man." Yang crossed her arms over her chest and gave a firm nod at Jaune display of standing up for himself.

"Indeed." The white-haired boy spoke up. "Even though I just saw him and never spoke to him, I can already tell that he's going to do great things!"

Pushing the door, Jaune take a few steps outside and took a deep breath before exhaling out all of his pent-up emotions as the weight of one less job was off his back.

' _Somehow, the skies seem brighter today...'_

Whistling a nameless tune, Jaune merrily walked down the sidewalk and waved to random people that gave him a look of confusion at how odd he seemed.

' _Man, and all I had to do was say those words.'_ He thought to himself as he continued to walk back home.

' _Say the words.'_

' _Say the words.'_

' _Say the words.'_

But, since that was all in Jaune's head, what he really thought was this.

' _SAY THE WORDS, YOU MASSIVE LOSER!'_

Thinking about what he wanted to say about going to Beacon, Jaune still had his hand raised like an idiot with his mouth clamp shut.

' _Just say that you politely decline the... that's it! Sure, you might not have the chance to ask for a raise since your going to say no to your boss, but this is a matter of not opening old wounds!'_

Memories of being shunned away from the academy still clung in the back of his mind. He would sometimes remember at random times, having some regrets trying to make him remember why he was in Vale.

Now though, the quiet thoughts of 'what ifs' was coming back, giving Jaune ideas of finally being able to see what could have been.

' _I need to think rationally here,'_ He thought to himself. _'They don't really mean about me going to Beacon, I just need to point out a few flaws in their idea and be done with it.'_

"Well, Jaune." His boss was growing impatient. "You got your hand raised and everything, so spit it out already."

' _Right, need to put my hand down now.'_ Jaune slowly receded his hand back to his lap. _'Ok, no more stalling. Just tell him your thought without sounding like an idiot.'_

Taking a deep breath, Jaune looked calmly at J.J and opened his mouth to speak.

"I'M NOT A HUNTSMAN!" Instead Jaune screamed like an idiot anyway and then swiftly slapped his mouth shut.

' _You had one job, brain!'_

"What!?" Jonah looked at his photographer like he was deranged. "I know you're not a Huntsman, we just need you to write down Ms. Schnee and her team about the life of training to be a Huntsmen. Why the hell did you need to scream out the obvious?"

"What I mean is..." This time, Jaune had the bearings to control what he wanted to say and explained his own reasoning to not be able to do the job. "Is that it would be odd to go to Beacon since I'm not a Huntsman-in-training."

"You don't have to worry about that, my boy." Stane assured him. "Just like Weiss, there is another well-known individual attending Beacon, but the difference is that we want only the Bugle to help us show everyone that Weiss isn't some renegade."

"Then what about the whole me going to Beacon thing?" The 17 year old blonde boy so far was grasping at straws at this point. "I mean, I thought you actually wanted me to go to Beacon. If you want me to write an article about what they do during the day, then that would hinder my time at my school."

The two business men remained silent, making Jaune continue with his case.

"I don't want to question your intelligence, sir. But how is this going to work? Unless, you plan to make fake transcripts so I can enroll into Beacon, right?" Jaune laughed nervously while the people sitting around the table looked at him with surprise.

' _That sounded way too descript for it to be funny, huh?'_

"My point is..." Setting the awkward aside, Jaune went back to his reason on why he shouldn't/doesn't want to go. "It would cause major problems with my education since I'm still a teen enrolled in a normal highschool. You can't expect me to drop everything I do just so I can revolve most of my time writing down what they do, right?"

Stane looked at Jaune's boss and began to whisper at him about the matter. Weiss used this opportunity to voice her own claim.

"I agree with Mr. Arc," She spoke, making the two grown men stop and gave their attention to her. "I want to become a Huntress because I want to use my own way of trying to make people see my family as more than just some name."

"Yeah, listen to her she's totally telling the truth!" The secret hero nodded his head. "She doesn't need no help to get what she wants, she's her own person. Respect!"

"Why are you talking like that?" Her small speech about doing things her own was quickly set aside when Jaune started to open his mouth.

"Sorry, Weiss." Jaune's head drooped down in apology. "My mouth tends to have a mind of its own. Also, I sometimes talk too much when I'm in so much pressure."

As the two teens continued to talk to one another, one of the workers of the café walked up to their table with four glasses of water.

"Thank you." Stane said to the man before pulling out a view lien from his wallet and placed it in the workers shirt pocket. "How about we get something to eat, hmm? Don't worry about paying. It's on me."

Seeing no harm in food, especially free food, Jaune picked up the menu and asked for their best meal they had to offer. Weiss simply requested a salad while both Stane and J.J ordered sandwiches.

"I appreciate that you would be so kind, Mr. Obadiah," Jonah took a sip from his cup. "But let's get down to business. I prefer the direct approach than just trying to talk in circles about things like this."

"Yes, I suppose I shouldn't treat this as some board meeting about trying to reach status quos." Stane nodded his head.

"Thank you." Giving his own nod of appreciation to the rich man, Jonah then looked at his photographer and started to explain his reason for him to being here. "Ok, Arc. Don't give me all these things about school, we didn't mean you're literally attending Beacon, you said it yourself, you're not a Huntsman. The reason why I chose you is because out of everyone else at the Bugle, you're the only one still in highschool."

"Ok." Jaune nodded hiis head to show he's tracking on what his boss is saying.

"And you know how most of the people who read our Bugle has a low rate of younger readers then adults, right?"

"Yes." Jaune said truthfully, since he's guilty for not reading the papers unless it was about him.

"Then you must also know that civilian teens tend to only pay attention to things that are interesting," J.J shook his head at today's generation of irresponsible youths. "Seriously, it's all about celebrity break ups, scandals, and even when the next video game is released. But when news started to show some clown in a mask beating people up, the kids finally started paying attention!"

The image of Flash going on a rant about how great Spider-Man was made J.J's statement sound more true.

"Months it took Spider-Man to completely bring the whole kingdom to pay more attention to the news, but it also made people see something else."

"The highway." Jaune said, remembering the crowd of people throwing things at Ruby and her team and chanting his name.

"Not just that. Think a bit farther, Arc. It involves the White Fang and the high rate of Dust being stolen."

 _'Dust? White Fang? Oh, now I remember.'_

"It was when Spider-Man saved the dust owner who was shot, right?" Remembering that moment also made him rub his hands together out of reflex. Not out of guilt or anxiety, but because when the injured man was sent to the hospital, Jaune had spent over half an hour scrubbing the blood off his gloves.

"That made people start thinking he's someone above the law. Heck, people are even starting to wear that guy's symbol like it has actual meaning!" J.J grabbed his cup and took several sips of water.

"With people seeing the good he's doing, it also makes people see the Huntsmen in a bad light."

Riding on what Jonah had said, Stane followed it with his own thoughts.

"Huntsmen are trained to combat the Grimm, humanity's natural enemy. Wielding weapons that seem impossible with abilities that should come out of fairy tales." Stane took a glance at Weiss who had her eye looking at the table. "Yet, they are still human who make mistakes. People forget that sometimes, thinking that they're some sort of invincible warriors. That's far from the truth, but they don't see that, all they see is Spider-Man doing menial tasks while Huntsmen risk their life out in the wilds to protect villages that can't afford to live in the kingdoms."

Hearing how that all his efforts in trying to make this city safer made the teen to ball his fists.

' _What else am I supposed to do then?'_ He thought to himself. _'Just sit on my butt and hope that someone else can do it for me? No way, not again, not ever! I may not know what it's like to be a Huntsmen, but I do know what it feels like to be helpless, and I'm not letting the people of Vale feel that so long as I live.'_

Still silent, J.J took back the conversation and talked to Jaune.

"People can be ungrateful at things, and they're taking Huntsmen for granted. Which is why we're here to fix that." Reaching into his pocket, J.J placed some card attached to a lanyard in front of Jaune. "That's why, you're no longer just my photographer, but my reporter for the Bugle."

This was a shock to Jaune, he was lucky enough to have J.J hire him as his photographer taking pictures of Spider-Man but getting a position so quickly made him go into shock.

"Mr. Jonah..." He picked up the lanyard with his face plastered on the I.D with a label 'Reporter' underneath his name. "I don't know what to say about this..."

"A 'thank you' would be in order." J.J told him. "I already have good reporters in the Bugle, but I need fresh eyes for this task. We need some young blood on this mission and since you're already closer to Ms. Schnee's age, it makes it easier for you to understand what it's like for them."

"Understand?" This made the newly appointed reporter to chuckle. "If you're saying I can understand what a 17-year-old teenage girl is thinking, then I think you need to put your faith in someone else."

The joke he made caused the rich tycoon to chuckle, making Jaune feel a little less nervous knowing that someone in this table has a humor.

"Forgive me." Stane held one arm in the air and the other on his stomach to control his laughter. "I haven't had a good laugh in quite some time."

Taking a few seconds to let it all out, Stane calmed himself down.

"What your boss is really saying..." He silently chuckled again. "Sorry, still funny. But like Mr. Jameson had said, you're qualified with your age and mindset. Weiss is 17, her team is 17,"

' _Ruby's 15.'_ Jaune thought to himself.

"And if I'm correct, you're also 17, Mr. Arc. We can hire someone who is more qualified, but what we want is someone who can really understand the new generation of Huntsman, making you a prime candidate. You can see what it's like in their shoes, and then you can put it in words so people who aren't Huntsmen, young and old, to see them as people and not weapons."

' _Sounds reasonable.'_ The hero thought. _'On theory, but in reality? I'd probably just sit in a corner and just stare at them while they do their normal business like some creepy statue or an even creepier stalker.'_

Looking at the lanyard again, the thought of having this promotion and the benefits that come with it out weighed his personal issues with the academy.

' _But I need the lien, god I really need it. This is more than just me, this is for Aunt May, too.'_

"Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! No way! That's adorable!" Jaune's thinking was interrupted when he heard Ruby laughing a few tables away from him.

Looking over his shoulder, he could see the boy that has the same resemblance as Weiss talking to Ruby and the rest for their team. Whatever he said made both Ruby and Yang laugh at whatever he said, he could even see Blake starting to form a half smile now and then.

' _Maybe I should go to Beacon,'_ He saw Ruby talking the most to whoever that mystery guy was, though what he can hear the most from their conversation was just about Spider-Man and Iron Man. _'If I think more on this, her team really needs a win on their side since they were treated very poorly.'_

Staying silent, Stane reached inside the pocket of his suit and pulled out a check book.

"Also, even though your boss has graciously given you a new promotion, we... well, mostly me. Will also contribute to your help of fixing the labels that was placed on Weiss and her team." Reaching in his suit pocket again, Stane pulled out a fancy looking pen and started to scribble on the check book.

Just as Stane was writing, a new waiter arrived and served drinks to them.

"Thank you." Weiss drank her glass and moved her head a bit close to Jaune and whispered. "Look, I know we haven't really talked much, you and I."

' _You barely talked to me at all. Well, you did, but it was mostly about Dust.'_

"But you need to understand that this is a misunderstanding. We don't need people writing about us for the news."

' _I'm one step ahead of you, Weiss. I never wanted to do it in the first place so you don't have to worry about that.'_

The sound of paper being ripped off made the two teens to look back at the bald man.

"I'm sure this is a good bonus for helping us try and fix this little scandal." He pushed the check to Jaune.

Looking at the check, Jaune reached for his glass of water and drank it while he looked at what was offered to him.

He took a gulp… then another…

"Um, Mr. Stane..." With Jaune drinking his glass, Weiss used the time to speak her thoughts. "I'm still not sure if this is the right move. Having Jaune write what we do in Beacon doesn't sound like it will help us look better."

Jaune then took another gulp…

"Nonsense, Weiss. Vale only sees the bad parts of Huntsmen, we need to fix that by having someone see firsthand what you girls must deal with. Maybe then, people will start seeing the difficulty it is and stop comparing you all to Spider-Man."

And another…

"Still, I feel like maybe it's better if Jaune or anyone else could do it with Beacon as a whole, to see that all the students and staff are doing their best to defend Vale. Right, Jaune?"

Before he realized it, he drank his entire glass leaving only ice.

"In your own right, then maybe so, but in the end it's also his decision. Right, Mr. Arc?"

"Yes?" Putting down his empty cup, Jaune looked at Weiss and then at Stane. "So... about being a reporter..."

' _Huh, so this is what it's like being a sell out.'_

* * *

It was soon decided that Jaune would go to Beacon. Not as a Huntsmen like J.J said, Jaune had to remind his boss a second time, but as the newly appointed reporter for the Bulge covering the life and times of what a Huntsmen-in-training must go through.

The schedule worked for when the team is done with school work that Jaune would arrive and he would observe and ask how the team operates in the academy. After that, he would then go summarize what he learned in his own words and give it to J.J for approval.

After it's published, the people in Vale would read it and start seeing Huntsmen as tolerable rather than incompetent. Thanks to the recent rise in popularity of a certain arachnid themed hero, J.J was hoping that he could even the odds by trying to humanize the Huntsmen community.

A way so that people won't think too badly of the people protecting them from the Grimm and trying to decrease Spider-Man's fame.

"Ironic that he plans to ruin Spider-Man when he just hired him to cover the story on what a team of heavily armed girls can do in a school that trains said heavily armed teens."

Swinging from building to building, Jaune, now in his all black suit, made his usual night patrols while thinking about what might be in store for him if he decided to accept.

"It should be a no brainer to accept the offer, I mean, who in the right mind would turn down a promotion and a pay raise?"

Landing on a random rooftop, Spider-Man placed a foot on the ledge and looked down at the sleeping kingdom.

"Me." He sighed. "I would be an idiot to turn down such an opportunity. I mean, is it selfish of me to not go to a place that denied me a way to be a Huntsman?"

Hearing small patting sounds, Spider-Man looked to where he was hearing it and saw a cat strolling along with a dead bird in its mouth. As if sensing someone was watching it, the cat faced Spider-Man, and both stared at each other.

"Well," Seeing as he has someone to talk to, Spider-Man asked the feline. "Is it?"

The only reply the cat gave him was dropping its food and letting out a small "Meow."

"Yeah, you might be right." The hero placed a hand on his head. "I just… it brings back bad memories, you know? Besides me being rejected from Beacon and kind of being homeless in Vale. It also brings back memories of when I ran away from home."

By now, it seemed the cat knew that this stranger wouldn't stop talking, so it decided to lay on the floor and enjoy the bird as the stranger continued to talk.

"I have a family, a big one, having seven sisters and being the only boy in the family kind of makes you stand out the most. Well, most of my family are Huntsmen going back to the great war, so I felt that I should be one too. Half of my sisters were trained by our dad and they graduated and became Huntresses, so I thought I that I should also get trained by our dad too."

He chuckled at out stupid it all sounds now that he said it to a cat.

"Well, I wasn't much of a fighter as I thought I was and my dad started to see I wasn't progressing from all of the sparring we had. So, he told me that I wasn't cut out for being a Huntsmen, making me resort to even having my sisters try and train me, but it also had the same results."

Looking back at the streets below, Spider-Man watched as over a dozen citizens walk to whatever destination they wanted. Raising his head, Spider-Man looked at Beacon academy, it's large clock tower showing the time to be around midnight.

"I shouldn't be surprised really, I never really trained at a young age like my older sisters. I only started to see my interest when I finally reached my teens and by then it was too late for me to be properly trained. I didn't have the mind set or the early age training like my family did, so they wanted me to find a different way of living then being a Huntsman."

"It hurt to hear that I couldn't be a Huntsman, it was even worse when your family tells you. But," He clenched his fists tightly. "I just… wanted to try, even without their help. So, I thought it was a good idea to fake my transcripts by mixing some old paperwork mu sisters used to in enroll into a Huntsmen school, grabbed my family's heirloom, and left for Vale on my own. Once again, it sounds more idiotic when I say it out loud."

Now, sitting on the ledge, Spider-Man stared off into the distance.

"Well, I'm sure you already know the rest of the story. If I was in Beacon, then I wouldn't be here right now. Dressed up as some spider costume and living with a widow… a widow who lost her husband because of me."

Taking in a deep breath and then letting it all out, the hero continued to stare off in to the distance when he saw some bright lights a couple of street across from him.

"Looks like trouble," Crouching in position to jump, Spider-Man looked back at his feline audience who was finished with the dead bird. "Want to tag along?"

The cat's only reply was standing back on its paws and walked away.

"Thought so," He jumped off the roof and started to web swing. "Still, glad I could talk to someone about all this. Makes me feel a little better today. Maybe a good old fashioned brawl would make my mood even better."

Swinging past stores and apartments, Spider-Man saw that the bright lights were leading him to some tall building. It didn't look very appealing, looked duller then something worth stealing. However, if seeing a dozen or so men keeping guard made any sign for Spider-Man, that, whatever this building has must be worth something.

 _'Ok,'_ Sticking his body on the side of the tall structure, the arachnid themed hero played out his options in his head. _'Should I just drop in and do my usual banter? Let them think they have a clean getaway before swooping in and taking them down? Or-wait.'_

Focusing his sights on what the robbers look like, instead of seeing Roman's thugs, the White Fang, or even some random gang of thieves, what Spider-Man saw seemed out of place.

"Ok, either I'm still day dreaming," He whispered as he saw the armed robbers completely decked out in what he bellies are bee keeper suits. "Or honey nut cheerios are actually some secret organization hell bent on spreading bees throughout all of remnant."

Taking his interest even further, while half of the bee thieves were on guard the other half seemed to be holding strange devices that was scanning the structures of the wall.

"Alright, this is the place." One bee keeper said to another fellow bee enthusiast. "Set it up."

Nodding at the order from what Spider-Man assumes is the queen bee of the group. Three of the robbers started to attach something to the wall while the others cobbled together some strange contraption.

"Alright, looks like it's decided to let them have a clean getaway." He said as he saw them finish building whatever that machine is. "Though, with whatever they have planned involving that heavy machine, then there's no way it's possible for them to steal whatever's inside without causing a loud noise."

As if to prove him wrong, the leader of the rouge honey hunters operated the machine and as soon as he started pressing button, the small objects that were attached to the wall started to light up.

Those lights began to shine brighter and brighter and before Spider-Man could shield his eyes the light died down and formed bright lines. Those line soon connected to each other and the space that was within the lines soon glowed a bright purple.

To add more to this science flick the hero was watching, the machine soon came to life and started to elongate a metal arm right into the portal they made.

With the man driving the contraption, it soon retracted back holding a large metal crate with some serious security on it.

"Ok, maybe I'm wrong and they're really are going to make an actual clean getaway." Looking away from the still translucent door they made, the hero was more set on why they put so much effort in stealing the heavy crate. "Let's see they crack this on, I want to at least know what's in that thing before stopping them."

Turning off the machine, the leader of the bee keepers walked to the stolen cargo, pulled out some fancy looking pistol, and aimed at the locks.

What came out of it soon made Spider-Man affirm himself that maybe he really could be on some science flick, cause instead of actual Dust being fired, it was a laser.

No Dust, or some parlor trick, an actual laser shot out of the gun and destroyed the locks.

"That's so cool." Spider-Man said in awe as the rest of the men lifted off the crate to reveal what's inside. "Ok, looks like they're finally checking to see what they have."

Taking out his camera, the wallcrawler webbed it on the side of the wall and then prepared himself for when he gets the drop on them.

"Alright, why bring all this good tech for a single box? Is it some new Dust? Lien? Or is it…" Crawling a little bit closer to see what they were pulling out, Spider-Man was able to see that what they stole was none of the above. "Masks and suits?"

Just as Spider-Man described them the heavily armed men pulled out pale white, faceless masks along with black suits that would usually be used for in high society parties.

"Either they want to dress up in a better outfit or there's more to it than just simple fashion sense."

Inspecting the masks and suits, the leader of the bunch then proceeded to toss out all the fabric until all of it was in a crumpled pile.

With all the suits out, the head bee guy rummaged through what was left in the box before pulling out a black suit case.

"This is it." The leader said. "Our informant was right, we got the case, now we need to contact HQ."

With the knowledge that what they're looking for was now in their possession, Spider-Man decided now would be a good time to strike.

Using the element of surprise, Spider-Man dropped his hold on the surface of the building, shot a webline at the leader holding the case, pulled, and then slammed his shoulder to the unsuspecting bee robber.

Not expecting the sudden attack, the man lost his grip on the case and was flung a few feet away from where he was originally standing.

"Yoink." Grabbing the black suit case in midair, the hero crouched down in his usual offensive posture and spoke in his usual trash talking banter. "So, not liking your original job at making honey, so you resorted to things like this? What has become of this generation?"

"It's Spider-Man!" One of the nameless foot soldiers shouted.

"Blast him!" Another screamed, making the rest of the group to aim their rifles and started to spray the hero with concentrated fire.

"Whoa!" Dodging each hit, the wallcrawler easily avoided them all while also making sure the case wasn't harmed from any bullets.

 _'Getting a closer look at those guns, they seem way too futuristic to be basic firearms. They must have really scary bees if they arm themselves with such heavy weapons.'_

"Man, just one kick and I already disturbed the bee's nest!" He said while dodging each round with expertly executed gymnastic agility. "Or is it called bee hive? Nest? Hive? Hold on, I need confirmation on this."

Jumping in the air, the wallcrawler landed in front of the shooter who flinched as soon as his visors were seeing Spider-Man's wide lensed eyes.

"Hey buddy, got a quick question for you." The hero said while at the same time dodging each strike the bee suited man made. "Is it hive or nest? Oh my gosh, I just realized something. When this is over, do you guys have a secret lair that looks like an actual honeycomb? Cause that would be-"

Jumping due to his spider sense warning him of danger, Spider-Man dodged a sneak attack from one of the other armed men. Rather than hitting the webhead, the second man instead struck his fellow bee lover in the head, instantly knocking him out cold.

"Thanks for the help, but..." Shooting a webline to the man's face, Spider-Man pulled him in and delivered a straight punch right in the man's face. "Pretty sure the guy you hit will probably punch you when he wakes up, so let him know I did it for him."

Bantering among the criminals aside, Spider-Man continued his maneuver under heavy fire as he dealt with each bee member one at a time, all the while trying his best to ask questions about why they're in Vale just to get a simple brief case.

"Who are you guys?" He punched someone in the stomach then followed it by pinning him with a barrage of web globs.

"What's in this briefcase?" To show what he means, the hero decided to give the man a better look by slamming it squarely on his face.

"Is it money? Secret plans for world domination? Or-woah!" He quickly stopped his talking and dodged more laser fire from the rest of the armed bee thieves.

 _'Ok, that was way too close for comfort. A Dust round is dangerous enough, but what they have is far worse. Time to get a little bit more serious and ask a more direct question.'_

"Why are you here?" Spider-Man then confronted another man who continued to fire with zero effect. Right when he was about to reload Spider-man closed the distance and punched the man in the gut, knocking the wind out of him.

 _'Man, by the time I'm done asking questions, all of them would be webbed up!'_ Already seeing their numbers are almost cut in half, one of the few remaining robbers decided to operate the machine they used to steal their loot. _'What's he planning to do with that? If he thinks he can grab me with something that isn't movable, then he has another thing coming.'_

Typing a code in the system, the machine soon started to emit sounds of what could only be described as gears turning. The large claw machine soon started to unfold itself, revealing it to have two legs, another arm with a blowtorch, and the man who was operating it was now piloting a robot.

"That's cool." Spider-Man said without a trace of lying.

Charging straight for the hero, Spider-Man wasted no time in dodging the head on collision. Adjusting itself before it could crash into something, the pilot raised the arm that had the blow torch and raised the pressure of the heat, causing it to increase the size of the fire.

Using it as a sword, the robot charged again, flame sword swinging violently with the hero now on the defensive.

 _'I'm fighting a semi giant robot that has a flaming sword for a hand.'_ The webhead dodged an overhead strike and saw an opening to punch the joint of the arm. _'This would be so cool if it was happening to someone else.'_

With enough strength to cave the joint inward, the robot now had a broken limb, it's blowtorch now sputtering out as it could no longer be powered.

Not planning to give up just yet, the pilot turned to his remaining comrades and signaled them for support.

Thinking fast, one of them reached for a metal ball strapped to his waist, pulled it, pressed a button, and tossed it to Spider-Man.

"Oh, please!" Spider-Man looked at the incoming explosive like it was a wiffle ball. "You think you're the first person to ever throw a grenade at me?"

Shooting a webline, he latched the adhesive string to the projectile and started to swing it around him.

After swinging it a third time, the masked hero used the momentum to fling it upward, so the explosion can be mitigated in the air.

"I even got a face full of explosion of fire and Dust, so I'm not too worried about a grena-"

 ** _(FWOOM!)_**

Exploding as he thought, Spider-Man expected to see a large smoke cloud appear in the air, only instead of an explosion it was a giant net falling straight at him.

"Oh..." Spider-Man just stared wide eyed under his mask as he stared at the ever-closer net. "I guess this is a first."

Now, with the net encasing Spider-Man, the hero lifted his arms to see what type of fiber the net was made of.

"Wow, this has some very flexible metal," He said as he felt the material. "But I broke things _way_ tougher! So here I g-"

Without warning, the net started to produce volts of electricity, shocking the hero throughout his entire body.

 _'Got to try and get this thing off me!'_ Trying in vain to get out of the electrified net, Spider-Man's mind and body was more focused on trying to withstand the pain, making it difficult to find a way out. _'It's hard to get this thing off and when I try to break it the voltage gets higher and higher!'_

Not wasting the chance, the man piloting the robot used his remaining arm to grab the net with the hero still convulsing from the pain.

"H-how come you're n-not getting shocked? I c-c-call sh-shenanigans!" Spider-Man said with gritted teeth. _'Is his arm able to resist the net's electricity? Man, these guys have some serious toys, who am I dealing with here?!'_

"We got him." The armed bee keeper said to the rest of the crew. "But how the heck did he find us so soon? You think they double crossed us?"

"I doubt it." One of his friends replied. "He's Spider-Man, Vale's hero, or so I heard. We got this info from them not too long ago, they shouldn't be fast enough to relay it to this guy so soon. Not to mention, he probably spotted us when we were trying to steal from the maggia."

 _'Maggia? I never heard of them before. Just what the heck did I step into?'_

"So, what do we do with Spider-Man?"

"We dispose of him." The pilot spoke like it was a simple task. "He already taken down most of us, saw too much, and by now the noise must have caused some people to call the cops or even a Huntsman."

"Don't I have a say in this?" Spider-Man asked before he was electrocuted. "Seriously, you guys can control the voltage of this net?! Who's the wise guy that did that? No seriously, who did that? I can't tell since you all dress the same. Is that like a reference since bees all look the same?"

"Man, this guy talks too much."

"Doesn't matter what he says," The man who was operating the robot said. "Just shoot him, get the case from his corpse, and help the rest get back on their feet, we're running on a tight schedule."

Following orders from the newly appointed team leader, the foot solider raised his laser rifle right at the hero's head and pressed the trigger finger.

 ** _(FWOOOBOOOM!)_**

Apparently, someone was faster at pulling the trigger, cause a beam of energy shot the man's right side, making him fly in the air and land roughly on the concrete floor.

 **THUNDER~!**

Without rhyme or reason, music started to play from almost everywhere.

 **THUNDER~!**

More blasts of energy started to rain down, hitting a few more bad guys, each one of them knocked down on the ground leaving just Spider-Man and the pilot.

"Damn it, he's here too!?" The last remaining bee robber said. "It's not possible for him to fly all the way from Atlas to Vale!"

"Um..." Spider-Man, now no longer in pain from electrocution, looked around in confusion. "Did I miss anything else, what's going on?"

 **I was caught~ In the middle of a railroad track~**

"Did you tell him we were here?" He asked the caught hero.

"I just asked what's going on and you still think I know something? Dude, I think that helmet of yours isn't helping your hearing." Spider-Man said flatly.

As the two argued, the music became louder, as if it was a sign that something new was approaching.

 **I looked round~ And I knew there was no turning back~**

By now, seeing as he has no one to help, the last standing robber pressed two fingers on the side of his ear and started to talk.

"I need reinforcements, he knows we're here!" Whoever he was talking about, Spider-Man could hear the fear coming from the man still holding him captive.

 **My mind raced~ And I thought what could I do~ And I knew~ There was no help, no help from you~**

"Hello! Do you guys hear me?! He's he- YAH!" The only robber screamed when the small ear piece build into his helmet started to shout out the same song.

 **Sound of the drums~ Beating in my heart~ The thunder of guns~ Tore me apart!**

Finally, as if the buildup was just right, the sound of rockets was soon heard, followed by metal crashing into metal.

"WAAAH!" The hero screamed when out of nowhere as he along with the robot were pushed forward, causing the net to loosen and Spider-man to tumble out to freedom. "OOF!"

 _'Oow~ that hu-'_

"The case!" Looking at where the robot crash landed, he could see that the object was still intact.

The only problem was that the pilot crawled out of the control seat and tried to make a break for it with said briefcase.

Fingers curling around the handle, the last remaining yellow suited crook was about to make a mad dash but was stopped when a metal boot stepped on the important item.

 **You've Been~**

"Woah..." Was all Spider-Man could say as he stared at the person who helped free him. The new arrivals appearance was all that he needed to know as to who just saved his sorry hide.

"This should be a clear sign to give up, buddy." Iron Man said as he raised one arm with an open palm showing a glowing circle in the center. "So start talking about where the rest of your friends are, because this just isn't your night."

 **THUNDERSTRUCK!**

* * *

 **Ok, here is finally the chapter where Spider-Man and Iron Man meet for the first time. Many of you speculated who Iron Man might be, others might say otherwise, but I'll delve deeper in it on the next chapter.**

 **So without any further delay, let me start explaining on who I just introduced and why. Now, for the enemies Spider-Man fought should be well known due to them literally wearing all yellow as well as Spider-Man referencing them to bee keepers.**

 **That's right, it's none other than A.I.M stealing from the dangerous crime group: The Maggia. Now, another spoiler is that both groups are well known within Atlas, since A.I.M was using more advanced weapons Spider-Man never saw before.**

 **If that doesn't seem to make sense, then here is another reason for both groups to be at the same kingdom. Both groups are used in Iron Man the animated show, so I'm sure you all know what that means and how it will tie in to when Iron Man gets back to Atlas.**

 **Some of you might think that Spider-Man could have easily defeated them but understand that he was caught off guard by their appearance, weapons, and a better unit mindset then the usual thugs he fights with. His spider sense did save him, but he needs to also know what type of danger he's getting into, he thought it was a grenade, but it was a net all along.**

 **Ok, let's go back to the beginning of the chapter. Now, I'm sure most of you know from the previous one that Jaune wanted to quit, but I decided to make it a dream sequence instead. I know most of you want him to stay away from Beacon, but at the same time, I know that most of you wanted him to go visit Beacon when my story was slowly getting popular.**

 **I decided to make it a compromise with J.J getting Jaune to be a reporter to Weiss and her team, so it can generate a more positive image on young Huntsmen. As both J.J and Stane stated, they need new blood to understand youths attending Beacon and Jaune is the youngest in the Bugle.**

 **Weiss also tries to state her thoughts, though I'm sure you all know how that played out. I'm not trying to make her look bad with how she talked with Jaune, but wouldn't any one else feel the same when someone else decided things for you?**

 **I know most of you think it would be a bad idea for Jaune to be at Beacon, but he isn't attending, just visiting for a few hours. People also commented that he has two other jobs and also his own school life, making it hard for Jaune to balance that out including his other life as Spider-Man.**

 **Even Jaune sees the difficulty it will bring him, only for him to be on the fence when J.J gives him a promotion to reporter if he takes the role. If that wasn't enough, Stane also plays his hand and shows him his payment if he helps Weiss and her team look better do people can see they aren't bad people.**

 **After that, I had Spider-Man play the part of exposition with him contemplating about the choices he must make. He thinks so much of it, he even talks to a cat about his problems, even how he started before becoming Spider-Man. For me, I wanted to give you guys a little background of him before going to Vale and meeting Uncle Ben and Aunt May. To show a little bit more depth to Jaune, to remind people that Jaune isn't like Peter.**

 **Besides that, I even watched episode 3 of volume 6 and I got to say…. That episode was just one big exposition episode. But it was still helpful nonetheless, due to the fact that it proves that Ozpin really doesn't know jack about mankind, Salem being a female version of Adam, and also that the light and dark gods are huge pricks!**

 **Like seriously, I hate them! In my opinion, they all should kind of help Salem to retrieve the artifacts and maidens to fight the gods. You know like P5 style, to show that they're fine without them, since I feel like the light and dark gods are really the cause of this whole mess in the first place!**

 **Anyway, besides my ranting I would like to thank my Beta reader for helping me make this chapter possible and if you guys like this story, go check his too!**

 **Oh, before I forget, I might take a little bit slower on chapters for a while. Well, you guys already know this since it took a while to make this one, but my goal is to make at least two chapters per month, if permitting I'm not too busy. Also, why this one took so long is because I'm planning a trip to go to Tokyo and enjoy Tokyo Con! I couldn't go last year, and I also wasn't able to get tickets for the next one, so I hope the one in Tokyo will be a blast. Thank you, guys, for the support and I hope you guys like this omake!**

* * *

 **(Omake: Excelsior)**

* * *

Somehow, Jaune knew he was going to have a bad day, he just felt that way as soon as he woke up.

The first sign was that he woke up late and had to skip breakfast with Aunt May.

Making him decide to webswing to school while dressed as his hero alter ego. As he did, he spotted many minor crimes such a purse snatcher, an animal stuck in a tree, and a car accident.

He wasted no time handling each one, only for the results to be less then what he expected.

He stopped a purse snatcher from getting away by webbing him to a wall, only to realize that the guy was running to give the purse back to a lady who needed her inhaler. How he knew this was from the lady luckily close by to use her inhaler, screaming at him while also hitting him with her purse.

The second distress was helping a little boy trying to get a cat out of a very tall tree. It doesn't sound too hard for a guy with spider powers, but it wasn't how he rescued the cat, no, it was how the cat reacted.

Instead of helping the cat, the feline decided to scratch the man's face that was trying to help it, causing Spider-Man to flinch. It also didn't help that the cat kept flailing around, leading to the feline to escape Spider-Man's hold and plummet to the ground.

It didn't fall to its demise, unfortunately, it somehow landed on its feet and sprinted out of sight. Leaving Spider-Man rubbing the area where the cat scratched him all the while having the kid insult him for not helping at all.

Lastly, when he thought he can take a break and just simply help someone move a broken car off the road, instead of just getting a 'thank you' Spider-Man just received more heckling.

The man was alright and was being treated in the hospital leaving the towing company to get the car out of the streets. Apparently, they didn't like having some masked creep doing their job for them, saying that they won't get paid if Spider-Man keeps helping.

All three tasks he did and each one a blunder after another, it also didn't help that he was two hours late for school, causing him detention after school. At first, it didn't seem that bad, he just needs to stay behind and think about why he was late for school.

Unfortunately, it was a bad time to be in detention because he asked Mr. McCarran for a few extra hours to work after he was done with school today. Now, he's here and his boss is probably starting to think Jaune isn't reliable enough to help around the shop.

Jaune sighed. "Finally, it's over." He said as he left detention and started to head for his locker. "I hope Mr. McCarran isn't mad with me, I hope he can understand why I couldn't make it."

Grabbing his belongs from his locker, Jaune packed up all his things and started to walk out of the school.

"But that would lead me to lie and explain why I was late," Jaune stopped walking and looked down at his feet. "This is getting out of hand. If this keeps up, then it'll be hard for me to actually keep a job."

 _'I thought this would be easy, being a normal teen and a hero, but seeing first hand makes me think that I'm biting more than I can chew.'_

Starting to walk again, Jaune continued to think about what to do with his life when he stopped when the hallway splits in to two paths.

"The one on my right should take me to the front exit, it'll also be faster that way since Mr. McCarran's shop is a few blocks away."

Taking a step to the right, Jaune made two steps when he heard someone talk behind him.

"I wouldn't go there if I were you, son."

Turning his head, the person he spoke was an old man with sunglasses pushing a janitor's cart filled with cleaning supplies.

"Why?" Jaune asked the man. _'I thought I didn't see anyone in the hallway, even my spider sense didn't react.'_

"Oh, it's easy," Reaching beneath the cart, the old man placed a 'wet floor' sign in the hallway leading to the front exit. "I'm just about to mop is all."

"Oh, well, sorry for disturbing your work, sir."

"Don't worry about it, kid." He waved it off to show he didn't care. "Just telling you now, if you walk down there, you can't turn back cause the floor will be wet and I hate it when people step on still drying floors."

"You're not going to mop that side of the hallway?" Jaune pointed at the hallway leading to the back of the school. "No one seems to be going through there."

"Well, true," He nodded at the reasoning. "But people always stick to the same route and never really try a different way. That's why I always clean the hallway leading to the front, cause that's where the real mess is."

"So, you're saying the one behind you is the better one?"

"Well, yes and no. Really, both routes lead the same way, but how you go through them might be different. Like I said about the hallway you're walking now, everyone uses it every day, always using the same one since it's easy, but if you try the back one, who knows, you might actually get to have a new route to take and not the usual way out."

"Huh," The secret hero looked at both doors. "I guess that's one way to see things."

Just as the janitor was about to mop, he looked back at the blonde teen and decided to ask him what's wrong.

"You don't seem so happy to leave school, kid. Usually I see teens laughing and running to get out as soon as possible."

"Well," Jaune contemplated about talking about his day, but the man seemed trustworthy, like he somehow understands what Jaune's going through. "I just had a bad string of luck is all. This morning was a total bummer, I helped a few people out, but they just seemed to hate me, making me feel like it's not really worth trying to keep helping people."

"I see," The man started at the teen before speaking. "So is that why you're deciding to go down this hallway?"

"What're you talking about? It's just leading to the front exit."

"Yes, but everyone goes through there, why not just change it a bit and go through the one leading to the back of the school? They all lead to an exit, but everyone goes to the same one, not ever deciding to change how they want to leave."

"Yeah, but if everyone goes through the same door, doesn't that mean it's ok to go through it?"

Staying quiet, Jaune was about to go through with it and walk the same hallway when the old janitor finally spoke.

"You know, you remind me of someone I know." Jaune faced the old man and raised an eyebrow. "Great kid, bright and an imaginative mind. Always trying to make things that could inspire others, thinking it could help people in some way."

"Really?"

"Yes, he already had everything set and tried to pitch it to some people who could help him make his characters come to life on paper and in shows."

"So he's an artist?" The blonde asked.

"Yes, a good one too, helped choreograph some cool scenes in some internet show involving two groups, I think they were rival gangs, who had their own color or something."

"Sounds interesting."

"Yup, even had a bigger idea about making a show involving a cast of colorful characters, each one having their own wants and dreams, but had a common goal to save the world from evil."

"What happened next?" Somehow, the man's story interested Jaune, almost making him forget his bad line of luck. "Was he able to make it the show he wanted?"

"Yes," The man then friend. "And also no." He looked at Jaune who was confused. "He made those characters, he made them come to life, and he wanted them all to be part of the world he was creating, but the board that he was working under decided that one of the characters wasn't really up to their standards. Saying that the ratings won't be good and he should change it up like all the other shows they air."

"Which character was that?"

"Well, he never really gave a name yet, but it was a character like you and me. Just some normal guy trying to make more of himself. You see, every character had some cool or tragic background to them, but that one character lived a normal life compared to everyone else." He explained.

"So is that why they didn't want him in the show?" Jaune sounded sad, not knowing why. "Because he was too plain?"

"I think that's what they believed, but really, I think the reason my friend wanted a character like that in his show was because he seemed the most relatable."

"Relatable?"

"Yeah, a boy with nothing special about him, rising up and becoming a better person. Everyone loves an underdog after all. Though, I'm sure compared to all the other characters he made, the board decided he would just be out of place."

"That's really sad." After hearing that, a pit started to form in Jaune. "It sounded like a show I would really enjoy."

"Well, it's in production, but not with all the characters. However, that didn't stop him from asking outside help."

"What do you mean?"

"Like I said, he didn't like that he can't use all of his characters, so he asked someone who can use the underdog in a different story. My friend just didn't like seeing a character he made just be thrown out, so in hopes for a better start, he asked someone who's also an artist to make a story where he can thrive and still be what he wanted to be, an amazing hero."

"Wow." Jaune's face was now in a smile from hearing what happened.

"Yeah, my friend didn't like how he had to change his dreams like everyone else does to get more popular, so he thought of a different way, and it turned out even better than ever."

"So, that character, the underdog, he's in someone else story? Is it good, I might actually go find it at the library later!"

"Slow down there, true believer! You can find it some other time, but you should really get going, it's getting late."

Jaune looked at both paths, but after hearing what the janitor said somehow helped him realize what exit he should take.

"Thanks for the story, it helped me feel a little bit better about myself." Jaune said as he chose to walk the path leading to the back of the school. ' _Though, I never thought I would be so happy to hear about some character getting a chance to be part of some story. Still, one thing is certain-'_

Walking out of the back of the school, Jaune took in the sight of an empty school yard. Across from that, he could see the streets of Vale and her people walking to wherever they need to go.

All seemed normal, but one figure, a man in a dark hoodie that's covering his face was running, pushing anyone in front of him with a purse clutched to his chest.

"Help! Help!" A man with a wicked black eye, probably a result from the purse snatcher, screamed as he tried to chase the man. "That guy took my wife's purse!"

Suddenly, as if a huge weight was lifted off him, Jaune used the empty and quiet part of the school to quickly change into his hero costume.

Weblining the stop the thief, Jaune spoke with more confidence than ever before.

"I'm Spider-Man! And with great power comes great responsibility!"

* * *

"Now," Seeing the kid go out the back door, the janitor picked up his mop. "Back to work! These floors aren't going to clean themselves!"

Taking his time, the old man swabbed the floor in quiet peace when suddenly, his scroll started to ring.

Taking his device out of his pocket, the man read the caller I.D and smiled at who's calling him.

"Monty!" He said with joy. "How are you doing, friend?"

"Doing good, Mr. Lee," Monty Oum replied to his friend. "I'm doing quite fine for myself. How about you?"

"Oh, don't me so formal with me, Stan is just fine." Stan Lee then placed his mop back in his cart. "Just finishing up with the floors. I'll meet you soon, so hang tight!"

"Ok, oh before I forget, how is everything with starting that comic you wanted to make? I hope everything is in good order."

"Trust me, friend. I'm making great strides with him, you really made one heck of a character!"

"That's good, I'm glad he's in better hands."

"Yeah, the kid is really making an impact. Anyway, I just need to lock up and I'll meet you soon, my wife also wants to come chat, she wants to hear your next plan on making another volume."

"Of course! I'll see you soon, take care, Stan!"

"You too, Monty!" Stan pressed the 'end button'. "You too."

Putting the cleaning cart in the janitor's closet, Stan Lee looked at his work with a satisfied nod and headed to the exit.

Opening the exit door, one foot already out, Stan stopped and looked at where Jaune left to start his new life.

"Go get'em, Tiger!" Was his final words to the young hero before finally stepping out and closing the door to this world he helped make one last time.

* * *

 **I thought that this would pay my respects to the man who gave my childhood good memories. I hope you all will enjoy this Omake.**

 **R.I.P, Stan Lee.**

 **I hope you're still making comics in a better place.**


	25. Chapter 25

**Disclaimer: CrazyCriticer46 here! Brotherhoof12 does not own RWBY and Spider-Man, these two belong to their respective late creators. ENJOY!**

* * *

 **(Chapter 25: Thunderstruck)**

* * *

A hero usually fights evil alone.

That's how modern-day tales portray it nowadays. In which people make tales of one hero, fighting evil by themselves and usually coming out on top with a heavy price.

This formula was so ingrained in tales, many artists used the same concept in their literature and in other forms of entertainment. Though, drop the white knights for heroes in tights, damsels in distress with dames in duress, and you have yourself a modern-day comic book.

But sometimes, comic book creators get together, brainstorm, and even agree on making a comic line in which a hero would meet another standalone protagonist from another story.

Now, in the comics both heroes would meet under a misunderstanding of sorts. Be it false rumors, being framed, or a simple all out fight with no questions asked, but one thing is for certain, when a hero would meet another hero.

They fight.

People tend to think who is better due to the heroes having so many enemies and besting them all, everyone would speculate that who's better to fight a hero than another hero?

' _Man, my costume looks like crap compared to his.'_ Spider-Man said reluctantly in his mind as he moved his eyes to see the full scope of Iron Man's suit.

A chance of having them fight however, is instead replaced with a simple case of envy with seeing someone in a better outfit.

 _'So this is Iron Man...'_ Spider-Man thought to himself as he saw the armored hero move his head around like he was sightseeing. _'Wondering why he's looking around for, all the other guys are knocked out leaving only this… what did he call them again? A.I.M, yeah, this A.I.M Agent is the only one still awake.'_

Finally stopping his exploration around the area, Iron Man walked back to Spider-Man, with the black suitcase still in the web head's possession.

 **"Thanks for taking care of some of these goons, Spider-Man."** He said in a robotic tone, making Jaune's eyes beneath his mask to widen, thinking that maybe Iron Man really was a robot. **"I've been having some trouble dealing with these guys back home. So seeing them here, in your kingdom, makes me worry if they have plans that go beyond from just collecting technology."**

"No-" Spider-Man lifted his fist to his mask and started to cough. "I mean," The wall crawler started to speak in a gravellier tone. "No problem, Iron Man. I'm happy to take care of bad guys who want to harm my kingdom. I'm just glad you came in the nick of time; how did you get here so quickly anyway?"

' _I never knew I would see other people doing the same thing like me. First impressions are everything and Iron Man certainly made an impression.'_

 **"Well, I'm sure you already seen the news on how I was in Mistral. After I was done, I caught wind that some of the weapons that was being trafficked was going here."** He explained.

' _Weapons from Atlas… The Paladin!'_ Realization dawned on the webhead at how the White Fang was able to get so much heavy weaponry.

"So, you're saying that these guys," He pointed at the yellow jumpsuit agent. "Is the reason my kingdom had a massive robot trying to destroy her city? Are these the guys responsible for supplying the White Fang, then?"

' _That explains why I saw so many weapons at the rally. These guys must have stolen them from Atlas and sold it to the White Fang. I saw them not ten minutes ago steal stuff with tools that should be impossible to have. But why show themselves now in Vale of all places?'_

"Hold up, Iron Man." Web shooting at the pile of thrown suits and masks made by A.I.M, Spider-Man pulled out a mask and showed it to him. "Do you know who these people are? I caught these guys speaking about some group called the Maggia. Do you know them?"

Taking the mask from Spider-Man, the armored hero stared at the featureless mask and then to the opened crate belonging to said group.

 **"Yeah, I know them alright. They are an international crime syndicate that is the world's most powerful organization dedicated to conventional crime."**

"What do you mean by conventional crime?" Spider-Man asked. "Are they like Roman and his schemes of stealing Dust?"

 **"Not quite, Spider-Man. Though Roman is a very serious issue, the Maggia takes their business in a different way. They control most of the illegal gambling, loan-sharking, and narcotics trade in almost every city in Mistral and Atlas as well as many legal gambling casinos in almost every kingdom. It also has great influence within various labor unions and controls politicians on every level of government."**

"Woah..." The wallcrawler held his head in his hands. "That's insane! I know Roman has his share in crime, but these guys seem to be on a different level!"

 **"Trust me it gets worse,"** Iron Man said grimly. **"The Maggia has invested many of its illegal gains into legitimate businesses, making them seem like they're saints in the open, but they hide their true intentions with no one knowing any better."**

"Scary." He shuddered, thinking maybe this secret group is already in Vale right this moment. "Is that why they wear these creepy masks?"

 **"The reason why they wear things like these is to signify their pride in secrecy. They enforce a strict code of secrecy among its members and they won't hesitate to punish betrayals and failures with death."**

"Man, these guys seem more frightening than Roman. Kind of makes me think that the Maggia is like one of those mafia families you see in shows and movies." Spider-Man joked.

 **"Well, you're right on that part. But the Maggia is not a monolithic organization, but a coalition of many virtually independent groups known as "families". The leading members of each family are usually connected through familial or marital ties."** The iron hero explained.

' _Wow, I'm both well informed and scared at the same time.'_

"So, kind of like the mafia." Spider-Man said to Iron Man. "Either way, it's still scary to know that these guys are already in Vale. Did you know about this too, Iron Man?"

 **"Sorry, I wish I knew they were here too. Otherwise, I would be patrolling the shipping yards right now."**

"So, you don't know where they might be, huh?" The black-suited hero let out a heavy sigh. "One problem at a time, then. So how do you want to deal with this guy? Paper rock scissors?"

 **"I don't think that will be necessary."** Thankfully enough, no such thing came to pass between the two heroes as they stood next to each other looking down at the tied-up A.I.M agent who was remaining silent. "The guy will talk much sooner if we interrogate him together."

Standing in front of their only lead, the one to start was Iron Man picking the A.I.M agent by his arms and lifting him off the ground.

 **"Ok, buddy."** The robotic hero placed the man back on his feet. **"You're going to start talking, starting with where your base is."**

"…" Silence was the only answer given. Apparently, having a fully armed walking war machine wasn't enough to scare the man into spilling the beans.

"Yeah," The black-suited spider rubbed the back of his head. "Don't really see him talking any time soon, but hey!"

Taking a swing at this, Spider-Man hoisted the man over his shoulder and turned around to face his fellow crusader against crime.

"You can fly, I can swing around very high places," Spider-Man shook his shoulder where the man was placed causing him to shake from the motion. "Pretty sure this guy's suit can't do any of those things besides being impervious to bee strings. So how about we take this party of three upstairs?"

To make more sense of what Spider-Man was talking about, he pointed his index finger upward to the sky.

"…Wait, what?" This time, the A.I.M agent finally spoke. Too bad it was too late as both heroes took off to the sky.

* * *

Out of the four kingdoms, Vale was the second most well modernized kingdom besides Atlas who was the most urban developed as well as technologically.

Vale had more of a modern approach, sticking with brick buildings and tall sky scrapers. Due to Vale being both close to water and nature compared to Vacuo or Mistral, it had a more well-balanced source of resources to depend on.

"So, are you going to tell us what we must know, or are you going to keep on crying?" Spider-Man asked in a bored tone as he stared at the flailing beekeeper falling rapidly to the ground.

The A.I.M agent only cried in response, not being used to such heavy treatment such as this.

While Spider-Man was well-versed in urban battles involving the city's layout, it could not be said for the yellow jump suited man literally plummeting to his doom.

"Waaaah! Ahhh!"

"Ugh!" Spider-Man let out a groan of frustration.

 **(TWIP!)**

Shooting out a webline to the same tall tower he used to drop the man, Spider-Man grabbed him, pulled his line, and sent both him and the spineless thief back to the top.

"Ok, let's go over this one more time. Are you going to tell us where your base is?" To show he wasn't kidding, Spider-Man lifted an open palm and used his fingers to count. "5… 4… 3…"

"We… we are not a-afr-"

"Come on, man," The spider hero complained as the same thing was spouting from the A.I.M soldier. "We did this like, what? Four times?"

"Uhh…" He shrugged his shoulder, not really counting since he's more concerned with not becoming a pancake on the side walk.

"Here we go." Spider-Man blankly said, then casually pushed the man off the roof. "You got anything on what's in the suit case, Iron Man?"

Looking over his shoulder, Spider-Man saw that his newly acquainted friend was using this time to investigate the importance of the briefcase.

 **"Apologies, Spider-Man."** He said while flipping the black case over to its other side. **"Just seeing what's really inside the contents of this thing."**

"You got X-ray vision built into that helmet?" The arachnid said in surprise. _'So cool.'_

 **"In a sense, yes."** He answered. **"What I'm seeing through my optics is that this isn't your average case. Underneath the leather, the Maggia has made sure to keep whatever their hiding pretty tight."**

"A case like that? Wow, I'm sure the people from wall street would fight for something like that."

 **"Reinforced steel, fingerprint scanner, and if by chance the contents do get stolen…"**

"Which it did."

 **"Pretty sure that guy you pushed off has been falling for a bit."**

"You're right." Spider-Man looked down to see that man becoming a yellow speck. "Be right back."

Jumping off without a second thought, Spider-Man nosedived to grab the man, shot another web line to the roof, pulled, and made it back to the start within minutes.

"Ok, continue." Making sure he was also paying attention dealing with the interrogation, Spider-Man showed the beekeeper an open palm and started to count down to five again. "Something about the part where we stole the case?"

"We stole the case first," The A.I.M agent spoke out of reflex. "Then you guys took it from us."

"Oh, hey!" Spider-Man sounded ecstatic for the man to speak coherently. "You can talk in full sentences! Does that mean you'll tell us what we need to know?"

"W-well…" Spider-Man inched closer in a threatening manner. "OK, OK, just no more falling! We're just outside the border leading close to the Emerald forest! We have a base hidden, around 8 dozen men, and my head gear has the coordinates too!"

"Sweet!" Now, having what they needed, Spider-Man grabbed the man, pulled him away from the ledge, took off his beekeeper helmet, then proceeded to web him in a cocoon on the floor. Leaving his now exposed head out in the open for everyone to see. "Got what we need. Now, about the whole 'if the case is stolen' part?"

 **"It's a dead man's switch."** Iron Man revealed to Spider-Man. **"If we decided to open this thing by force, then it'll instantly destroy the important contents within it. Too bad for them, I'm the one who's cracking it open and not some wannabe hacker."**

Flipping the case to have the front side face Iron Man's faceplate, Spider-Man saw his fellow hero's eyeslits light up for a brief moment before it soon died down not a second later. What soon followed was Iron Man pointing his right open palm to the brief case with the circle in the center of his palm starting to light up.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! What the heck happened to not being some wannabe hacker!? You're not hacking! You're blasting!" Spider-Man interjected, taking a few steps back out of fear from what the explosion might cause.

Spider-Man's fear was soon lessened when the bean started to dim, the bright circle getting smaller and smaller to a fin point of a laser pointer.

The thin laser beamed out of his palm and hitting the case right between the center of the case. Within five seconds, Iron Man stopped his laser and began doing the process again on a different side.

Shooting the beam at each side, Iron Man then promptly pinched the thumb activated locks, like he was popping a zit and pulled them of the suitcase with no signs of the dead man switch going off.

 _'I see now.'_ Jaune's mind soon explained why Iron Man did such a thing. _'By lessening the output of his laser, he used it like a scalpel to cut the wires inside the case without triggering it's mechanism. He must have some steady hands to pull that off or he's just that smart. Whoever this person is, he truly is incredible.'_

 **"Alright."** Iron Man said. **"Let's see what's in this baby."**

Seeing as there was no explosion, Spider-Man walked to Iron Man's side to see what was inside the briefcase worth fighting over. What was inside maybe important, but since Spider-Man didn't really know how important, he just said what he was seeing.

"It's paper, more specifically paper in side manila folders." Spider-Man was about to reach for the folders only for Iron Man to close the case. "Hey! I thought we wanted to see what's inside."

 **"Don't worry."** Iron Man said in... relief? Spider-Man didn't really know why, but it seemed like Iron Man was relieved for some reason. **"They're just blueprints of some research the Maggia was working on. It might seem important since A.I.M was willing to reach their neck out in a foreign kingdom, but these blueprints aren't really that important."**

"And how do you know that?" Spider-Man asked.

 **"The reason I know this, is because A.I.M is also doing the same thing, only both groups have zero chance of ever creating it."**

"...Hey, what are you doing?" Spider-Man's thoughts were stopped when he saw another crazy act Iron Man was committing.

 **"Destroying what The Maggia had."** The iron clad hero stated while using an open palm to fire a beam of energy right in the center of the case. **"Even though I said they have no chance of creating it, doesn't mean I'll let them have these papers."**

Increasing the power of the beam, Iron Man made quick work of the briefcase as the papers burned to a crisp followed by the case, leaving nothing but ash.

"I see your point." The webhead spoke, still trying to understand Iron Man's motives in all of this. "Still, I would have liked to see what was in those folders. If whatever they're making is being worked in my kingdom, I would've liked to know so I can deal with it in the future."

 **"Apologies, Spider-Man."** He said. **"I'll tell you later, but for now..."** Standing in a T position, Iron Man's armored gloves and boots started to fire up, making him airborne. **"We need to see A.I.M's base of operations. If we strike now, we might catch them off guard."**

"You sound like you did this before." Spider-Man said, shooting a webline to a nearby high building. "Hold on, I still have his helmet, let me just... uh..."

Worried about breaking something important inside the helmet, Spider-Man chose the next best thing and placed it over his head.

"Huh, thought the inside would smell bad, but I guess this guy takes care of what he eats, cause I smell mint." His joking was put aside when his hand pressed the side of the helmet, causing the inside of the lens to display a map at the corner of Spider-Man's left eye. "This is so cool! It's like I'm in some VR headset!"

 **"That must be their navigation systems."** Iron Man explained. **"We can use that to find where exactly they're hiding in the Emerald forest."**

"How come you did decide to do your awesome hacking skills?"

 **"Because it'll take too long. Probably around five minutes. Three, if I'm being generous."** Iron Man said like it was a normal thing to say.

 _'That's still fast!'_

"Alright then," Jumping off the high structure with no hesitation, Spider-Man swung up in the air and start to webswing. "Follow me!"

Tailing behind him, Iron Man remained silent as Spider-Man spoke now and then about which way he's going. All the while, Spider-Man also did his usual antics by asking questions he had in his head.

"So," Spider-Man let go of his lifeline, crossed his arms behind his head and casually glided in the air. "How long have you been doing this?"

 **"You mean, what you're doing dressed up in a costume, right?"**

Spider sense kicking in, his body soon registered the danger of falling making Spider-Man shot a webline to keep his momentum above street level.

"Yeah, that!" Spider-Man eyed the H.U.D to make sure he's going the right way. "I was just curious, you know? I never heard about anyone else doing things like this so I'm just wondering about how long you've been, Iron Man. I can tell you right now, I'm still a bit green when it comes to this sort of stuff."

Iron Man was quite processing on what Spider-Man had told him. It was understandable, no one would think about telling someone they just met how much of an amateur they are. It was like saying to a patient that this will be his/her first time with a patient, yet, Spider-Man said it with so much ease it made Iron Man tell him the truth.

 **"Not long, probably shorter than when you decided to don the mask. I had the idea, but I never really thought of doing this, but that changed when I finally heard that someone was crazy enough to do it in real life."**

"Yeah," Spider-Man chuckled. "Guess I am pretty crazy for doing this."

 **"Maybe, but you're not alone in that department."**

That caused both heroes to laugh at Iron Man's joke, the atmosphere filled with light humor as they continued down the route leading them to A.I.M's hideout.

"If you're doing it at Atlas, how does the citizens over there feel about you?"

Iron Man looked down to the streets of Vale with people minding their own business and some wearing Spider-Man related merchandise.

 **"A bit like your city, really. Only they seem hellbent on trying to get an interview with me."** Iron Man replied.

"Heh, they tried to do that to me, too. Only they seem to forget that I know my way around Vale to hide from the reporters."

Spider-Man was about to say more, but when he saw that he was running out of buildings to swing with, Spider-Man immediately landed on the last building leaving Iron Man to stop in mid-air.

 **"Why did you stop?"** Iron Man asked. **"Did the H.U.D go off or is A.I.M finally catching wind of us?"**

"I, uh.." Spider-Man scratched the back of his head, though it looked a bit awkward since his head was blocked off by an A.I.M Helmet. "It's working, it's saying that it's just around twenty miles from here, but it's going to be hard for me to swing there."

 **"You afraid of the Grimm?"** Iron Man asked. **"I've seen a few when I fly, I can understand your fear. I always thought that they weren't really that scary, but seeing them up close made me rethink that."**

"That too." The blonde hero felt a shiver when he was reminded about what Huntsmen have to deal with on a daily basis. "I just think it'll be hard to swing in the trees. I never really had to worry about how much gravity I generate since I'm using cement and steel to help me swing."

 **"Either way,"** The flying hero changed the subject. **"If you're worried about the trees unable to hold your weight, then stick a web to my leg and you can give me directions while I fly us there."**

"Uh..." He hesitated for a moment. "I'm not sure, I'm okay with just swinging there."

 **"You may be great at maneuvering the city, but in the forest, you won't have tall buildings to help you."** Iron Man said. **"Come on, we need to go before they think somethings wrong with the group they sent out."**

"Yeah, I see your point." Looking down at the streets below, Spider-Man looked above to see Iron Man floating in the air. "I just hope you don't mind the extra weight."

 **"Trust me, Webhead. It's gonna take a lot of force to bring me down, trust me."** Flying higher into the air, Spider-Man reluctantly shot a webline on Iron Man's right leg and felt his feet no longer on solid ground.

 _'Deep breaths, Jaune.'_ The double masked hero made sure to look straight than look down below. _'imagine you're web swinging. That's it! You got this!'_

 **"Ok, Spider-Man."** Iron Man moved his head to see the full view of the forest. **"Where do we go?"**

"Mpgh!" Was the only thing Spider-Man said.

 **"What was that?"**

"Ugh..." Choking back his bile, Spider-Man looked at the map to see their destination. "Southeast, just 23 miles before we reach it."

 _'Guh! Does my motion sickness count Iron Man as a Bullhead!? How is that possible?! I swing from buildings, fall, but when I'm not swinging and letting something or **someone** do it for me, my stomach doesn't agree?!'_

 **"Ok, then."** Iron Man's boots and gloves started to emit a loud noise. **"Hold on tight! I'm cutting this joy ride short!"**

 _'Count to 10 and calm down! 10...'_

Not even able to count to 9, Spider-Man's view of the world soon shifted into fast forward like being in a speeding car only instead of being in a metal death trap, he was holding on to said death trap by a slim strand of webbing.

 _'Oh man~! 8!….. 7!...… 6!'_ Closing his eyes and focusing on counting, Spider-Man clutched the webline tighter as he was assaulted by high speed winds.

No sooner did he crack open an eye, he felt the velocity to decrease, making his stomach start to become less agitated. _'5, 4, 3, 2, 1!'_

 **(GASP!)** Opening his mouth to get a large intake of oxygen, Spider-Man relaxed his body and allowed himself a moment to collect whatever nerves he had from such a fast flight. "I'm now starting to think that maybe you are fast enough to fly from Atlas to Vale! Seriously, I felt like my costume was going to peel off any second!"

 **"Sorry about that, Spider-Man."** The flying machine man said, his eyes scanning over the terrain of endless acres of trees. **"But this is the Emerald forest. Well, part of it, anyways. A place invested with Grimm, so I thought that if we kept to a slow pace we would have to deal with some Nevermore or Griffons."**

Spider-Man was about to say more, only for his mind to pick a certain part of what Iron Man said about the forest they're currently in.

"What do you mean 'part of the forest'? I see a whole forest all around us."

Looking to his left, the sound of optics zooming could be heard as Iron Man saw off into the distance. **"You're right that it might not make sense, but the reason I'm saying this is because some of the forest is closed off."**

"Closed off?" Spider-Man used a hand, make an 'O' shape and used it as a crude telescope. "Don't see no fences, Iron Man. All I see is trees, mountains, and hopefully no flying Grimm with an empty stomach."

Changing his position in the air, Iron Man went in a 'T' position and used his left hand to point at where he was referring to. **"What you might not know, is that Beacon Academy actually has a form of a security fence closing off a portion of the forest. Not a literal fence or a wall, they maybe back up with some go revenue, but there are some things the council rejects in Beacon's requests."**

 _'I think I remember Ruby telling me about how she got into Beacon, something to do with spring assisted floor tiles? If The Council thinks that's necessary for Beacon to have, then I don't want to know Beacon's other crazy request.'_

 **"They make sure to monitor with surveillance equipment built into some trees and rocks, it's a way to regulate and also make sure stronger Grimm won't wander in and cause a any life threating injuries to their students. They maybe able to have Aura and weapons far outclassing military slandered guns to back them up, but even they can't handle hordes of Grimm."**

"Holy smokes, Iron Man! They actually do that to their students!" Spider-Man said hysterically. _'Oh my God! I didn't have Aura when I came here, so if I did have a slight chance of getting in, then I would either die by being thrown hundreds of feet in the air, or if by some divine deity, I would survive only to die by some monster!'_

 **"Eh, I can understand why they want to throw actual Grimm to young Huntsmen-in-training."**

"I can't!"

 **"You know the saying, 'you gotta run, before you learn how to walk.'? Now, back to business, are we at the base of A.I.M?"** He asked his passenger.

"What do you mean?" A confused Spider-Man asked. "We're here, aren't we? It says it's right below us?"

Looking down to the forest, Spider-Man expected to see an evil lair, but just found trees beneath them.

"Well, now..." He clicked his tongue, not sure what he was supposed to see. "Does your suit shrink? Cause the only thing I'm drawing in my head is that their base is an actual beehive."

 **"Sorry to disappoint you, Spider-Man."** Iron Man said. **"I may have said that I dealt with A.I.M back in my kingdom, but this is my first time experiencing this."**

"Cloaking device?" Spider-Man threw his idea out. "I heard that people have a Semblance, each unique to every person, so maybe they have a member that made it invisible?"

 **"They can't have someone always cloak a base 24/7, Spider-Man."** Lowering them down to the ground, Iron Man walked a few paces forward, kneeled, and placed a hand on the ground. **"** **A.I.M's main purpose is throwing the government for their own gain, they specializes in scientific machines either built by their own hands or stealing other people's own ideas... even the person who had the idea, too. Needless to say, relying on a person with a Semblance can be much more of a hassle, I'm sure they might have made a device to cloak themselves from the outside."**

 _'No.'_ Spider-Man felt zero 'danger' from this place, his spider sense would have already told him something by now. _'A Grimm or two should be roaming around, yet I don't feel anything from my Spidey sense. Plus, if they did have a way to turn their hideout invisible, then they should have spotted us in the sky and shot us down, even then, I'm sure my spider sense would have alerted me.'_

"You think they just packed up and ran? I mean, if they spotted you, then they must have known that they have no chance at beating you, right?"

Iron Man chuckled at what Spider-Man was implying. **"No, I wish all of my daily bad guys would do that, but they're too stupid or just too confident in trying to beat me. Plus, they also try to capture me and steal my suit"**

"Your suit?" Spider-Man at Iron Man from top to bottom. "Yeah, I can see why, your suit looks like it can do some amazing stuff."

 **"Heh,"** The flying hero shook his head. **"No, believe me when I say this, but it's more than just the power this suit can do. Ever since I shown Atlas what I can do, people, well, shady people, have tried to take the suit to make their own. And with A.I.M being a group that has legions of scientist in their staff..."**

"They'll try to make more of your armor." Spider-Man finished Iron Man's explanation. "Aren't you afraid that they might be setting up a trap? Maybe they wanted us here? To catch us off-guard?"

Spider-Man's paranoia was answered by himself as the back of his skull did not blare any immediate signs of danger. _'Still nothing, not even a slight tingle. Just where the heck are they?'_

 **"No, I'm not worried about them finding us. If they wanted to surprise us, then they could have shot us down before we could even reach them, or right now if they wanted to."**

 _'Ok, let's leave my 'detect danger' ability to the side for a moment. Iron Man's reasoning holds weight, so how are we able to get this close without us sounding the alarms?'_

Spider-Man placed a fist under his chin, eyes closed to make him have a better image forming in his mind. He replayed how it happened tonight, A.I.M, the fighting, being captured, then the music being played through-

"Music." Spider-Man said the once thing that was out of place. "I remember that music was being played from almost everywhere, even that one A.I.M guy's COMM set had the same thing playing."

After hearing Spider-Man's deduction, Iron Man's head looked up to the webslinger in surprise. **"Not bad, you figured it out in such a short time. I'm impressed."**

"So you used some form of frequency to conceal yourself from A.I.M?"

 **"Kind of, yes and no. Well, part of it."** To show that Iron Man was thinking of a way to further explain, he tapped the side of his helmet. **"I built in a certain frequency in my helmet to scramble enemy signals, it's a way to stop them from calling for extra back up or warnings to their pals."**

"By using classic rock songs?" The arachnid hero crossed his arms and tilted his head. "I felt like that part could have been taken out of your suit."

 **"Eh."** The man made of Iron shrugged his metallic shoulders. **"A friend of mine just recommended the idea to me, said it gives me a dramatic entrance or something."**

 _'Your friend isn't wrong, though it does make a kick ass entrance. I still feel like I'm missing some things here.'_

Going back to look at the ground again, Iron Man continued to speak while looking at the dirt beneath his feet. **"However, my suit wasn't built with anything stealth based. I'm small enough to not be detected like Bullheads and flying Grimm, yet they should have seen us since we weren't that high in the air."**

"I'm feeling like there should be more to that." The hero of Vale tilted his head to the side. "Though, I'm sure the long winded version isn't needed at the moment. Right now, we need to find out where their base is hiding."

Still having the beekeeper helmet on, Spider-Man still saw their location was right next to A.I.M's base, yet as far as they could see, nothing out of the ordinary was taking place.

"Ok, this thing isn't helping." Taking the stuffing helmet off, Spider-Man tossed it to Iron Man and did his own searching. "We have that they didn't spot us in the air, we didn't see them in the open, nor anything involving them to turn invisible, so..."

 **"Judging from the helmet,"** The armored man inspected what was given to him. **"I don't see anything wrong with it, but I'm not planning on just hacking this thing any time soon."**

Dropping the yellow helmet on the floor, Spider-Man was surprised by Iron Man's disregard to their only lead and shot a webline to retrieve it back.

"Hey, don't just drop that! We need it to-"

 **(Rumble—Rumble...)**

"Hm? Did you feel that?"

 **"Excuse me?"** This time, it was Iron Man who looked at Spider-Man in confusion. **"What do you mean? I don't know what you're talking about."**

 **(Rumble! Rumble!)**

"There it is again!" Spider-Man looked around to see nothing changed. "You can not be Joshing right now! You have to tell me your Joshing, that is the rules!"

 **(Rumble! Rumble!)**

 **"Nope."** To prove his point, Iron Man kneeled to the ground and place his hand on the dirt. **"I don't feel anything, so I'm not sure what you're talking about."**

Raising his head, Iron Man caught sight of Spider-Man's webline not only hitting the helmet he has dropped to the ground, but also the Spider's webline connecting to some of the dirt.

 **"Maybe..."** Iron Man mumbled to himself. **"Hey, Spider-Man. Shoot another webline, but instead of the trees to do your usual swing, aim straight towards the ground beneath you."**

"I don't see why that would help."

 **"Indulge me, please."** Raising a palm to fire a small energy blast to cut the line from the A.I.M helmet, Iron Man picked it up and nodded his head to signal Spider-Man to start.

Not seeing any harm from doing so, Spider-Man used both of his organic web lines at the floor. He felt like an idiot to do so and was about to let the web ropes go.

 **(RUMBLE! RUMBLE!)**

That was until he felt a much stringer tremor vibrating through his webs.

"This is new," Spider-Man could feel the small vibrations coursing through his weblines. "My webs, I can... feel what's underneath for some reason."

 **"You mean you never knew you can do this?"** Iron Man asked out of interest.

"Never." Spider-Man answered truthfully. "I mostly use my webs to swing, trap, grab, and other stuff that makes it easy for me. But I never knew they could be used for something like this."

Letting the two lines go, Spider-Man shot another pair of webbing to the ground and feel the same movement coming from below.

"It's like..." He was trying his best to explain his newly discovered ability. "I don't know how to say this with words, but I can feel movement in the ground through my webs. I can even tell where some of the vibrations are coming from!"

 _'This is freaky,'_ Spider-Man started to shoot webs to the ground to track what was making such heavy movement underground. _'I thought I knew what powers I had from that spider, but now I'm even more confused on what other powers I haven't discovered yet.'_

With each webline Spider-Man made, he could feel that whatever was underneath them getting stronger and stronger. "Are you starting to feel the tremors, Iron Man? They're getting so strong that I don't think using my webs are necessary anymore."

 **"You're right, Spider-Man."** Iron Man walked a head of his fellow hero and started to look around the forest. **"I'm starting to pick up some foreign objects up ahead, it could be the entrance."**

"Guess I don't need to hold on to these then." Spider-Man dropped his webbing and followed Iron Man deeper into the foliage. "Kind of freaky that I can do that, makes me wonder what else I might be hiding."

Looking over his shoulder, Iron Man looked at the webhead for a moment, faced back forward, and started to talk.

 **"You know, I heard that spiders are the second most vibrate sensitive creature in Remnant, second to the cockroach. How they are so good at detecting small vibrations are due to their webs, making them so sensitive that spiders can detect their next food or even knowing when a predator is coming for them."**

 _'Spiders... he didn't mentions anything about Faunus with spider-like traits, but just actual spiders. Does he know? Is he already thinking that I'm more then just a half Faunus?'_ Spider-Man was in deep thought, contemplating on how to register this. _'He's smart, frightening even. Makes me wonder if he's smart enough to make a guess on who I am under my mask. No, I doubt it. I'm probably giving him too much credit. Though I should make an effort to learn more about any other secrets my body is hiding from me. Maybe books involving arachnids and not Faunus biolo-'_

Spider sense finally reacting, the black suited hero went into a defensive crouch, causing the other hero to look behind him to see Spider-Man not walking.

 **"What's wrong?"** Spider-Man could see the lights in Iron Man's gauntlets beginning to light up. **"Grimm?"**

"No." Spider-Man dropped his usual cheerful tone for a more serious persona. Producing a small amount of organic webbing, Spider-Man layered it on the ground and placed his hand flat on top of his small web. "I felt some more movement, it's getting closer, I think some of them are arriving."

Getting in a defensive stance, Iron Man raised both hands to get ready for a fight with the remainder of A.I.M soldiers. **"You sensed them from below, but how did you know if they're coming above ground?"**

"I felt movement coming from _beneath_ us." Spider-Man felt the back of his skull starting to flare. His spider sense was the one who tells him but he didn't want Iron Man to know that ability, not yet, at least. He had enough revelations about his new spider ability and he didn't want Iron Man to poke holes into why he has an ability not related to spiders. "Footsteps moving around with a faster pace, I think we're close enough to their base."

 **"Patrols."** Iron Man lowered his arms. **"No wonder we haven't spotted Grimm for some time. They must have killed any threats near their base and since Grimm dissolve in a matter of minutes, it would be like nothing ever happened at all."**

"But this is _the_ Emerald forest, full of Grimm that it isn't even funny, how can they do that without someone noticing a few explosions and screaming?" Spider-Man asked, feeling the presence of danger getting closer.

 **"They come from Atlas, a kingdom more advanced and well armed then the other three, but most importantly, they house scientists that build dangerous weapons that could be deemed too dangerous to use. Grimm may be challenging back in the day, but technology is developing far faster then any Huntsmen school can produce."**

Thanks to his night vision, Spider-Man could see a pair of A.I.M agents closing in on their position. "Two people are coming, I don't see them firing, so I think we can snea-"

 **"I mean, let's be real. Some people would hire a person to swing around a giant weapon to kill a few monsters."** Iron Man stopped his lecture, raised a hand, and fired two shots of energy hitting both targets aimed at their chests. **"When others can just buy weapons that can eliminate their problems with less effort then pressing a button."**

"Wha-what did you do?" Spider-Man asked him, not sure why he would blow their cover.

 **"It's simple, all I did was press a button."** The armored man casually walked to the unconscious men and started to remove their helmets. **"If you thought about sneaking around them, that's all and fine and good, but unlike you, I'm wearing a suit of power armor with the center of my chest being a literal lightbulb for everyone to see."**

Examining their gear, Iron Man checked to hear if others might have heard a scuffle through their commlinks but was lucky enough the only thing Iron Man heard was basic chatter. Putting the helmets down, Iron Man looked at Spider-Man who had his arms crossed in front of him.

 **"What? I'm serious about my armor, I had to swat moths away from me so they won't obscure my vision."** Letting out a sigh as Spider-Man's silence, Iron Man just lifted his finger and pointed as where those two came from. **"Come on, if those guys came this way, then we can re-trace their steps to go inside their base of operations."**

Dropping the serious act, the hero in black just sighed, shook his head, and followed alongside Iron Man. "I still felt like you could have at least put an effort."

Iron Man snorted as Spider-Man's statement. **"If you think I would smear dirt, leaves, hold branches, and act like a tree, then you must not get enough oxygen through that mask of yours."**

"Hey, this thing does more then hide my identity, you know?" Spider-Man puffed out his chest and turned his head away from Iron Man. "It can also help me not get anything stuck in my eye."

"Amazing." The metal man said flatly. "Truly, your simple gimp suit far outpasses my ow-" Iron Man stopped his compliment at the sight of what's in front of him.

Both heroes reached the entrance to A.I.M, the entrance was a giant door in the ground, completed with a design to make it look like the earth in order to hide what was underneath.

"At first glance, whatever they used to make the metal gate look like everything around us the same is impressive." Spider-Man said, disregarding their banter and back to the reason on why they're in Grimm territory. "Even up above, we probably would've not seen it."

 **"Just goes to show you how well A.I.M makes things,"** The armor clad hero said. **"It breaks my heart to know they would waste their time making things like this and not use their genius on more useful things. Like better modes of transportation, medical facilities, plumbing, agriculture... artificial intelligence."**

"Arti-what now?"

 **"Anyway, since we're here with no alarms sounding off. That means we can catch them off guard, destroy whatever they're making, capture them for the police, and then go home before late night television ends."** Iron Man said with such confidence in what his simple plan was that it almost made Spider-Man wonder if the person behind the armor was this cocky even before he made the suit.

"I feel like you're making this seem way easier then it should be." Spider-Man walked in front of Iron Man before he could start his one man assault. "We are going in an underground, an actual evil lair, mind you, full of people armed with weapons straight from some science flick. I don't know how you do things in Atlas, but this is Vale, and I feel the best plan right now is for me to sneak in, take down their security, deactivate other things that could hurt us, and then you can come in with whatever you have in that shiny tin can of yours."

 **"Believe me when I say this, Spider-Man."** He raised his hands to show he means no disrespect. **"I fought A.I.M, won, and did it without breaking a sweat. We're in the middle of a Grimm invested forest, the only ones who will notice are the monsters trying to kill us. Besides, don't you want to try something that doesn't involve you crawling on walls most of the time?"**

 _'He did make short work of them.'_ The hero of Vale thought to himself. _'But I just don't think going in like this is smart. He may be invincible from firearms and blades, but I'm not. Unless by some other divine miracle I can produce an exoskeleton, I'm not taking any chances.'_

"Before you blow anything, let me take a crack at this first." Spider-Man said as he walked past Iron Man. "Instead of you going to them, how about they come to you?"

 **"You mean, you want me to cause a distraction?"** He asked his fellow hero.

"Well, you said it yourself." Spider-Man used Iron Man's reasoning of how he takes into action. "I'm not wearing a full set of armor and I'm pretty sure you can't even bend down without taking a knee. So try to cause big enough noise to get them out so I can sneak in."

 **"I see your point."** Iron Man agreed to the plan. **"Ok, sounds fair. I was getting tired of all this tip toeing anyway."**

 _'Glad that's settled, but now we need to know how to cause A.I.M to-'_ Spider-Man stopped when he heard the familiar sound of Iron Man getting ready to take to the air. "Wait, no. I think I know what's going to happen next."

 **(FWWRRRBOOOM!)**

Like a sound of a high powered jet engines firing in all cylinders, Iron Man flew up in the air, raised both of his hands, fired two beams, and fused into one large stream of firepower at the blast doors.

The force behind the attack caused the large metal doors to bend inward, leaving a large hole big enough to fit several bullheads. Not a minute later, a swarm of A.I.M soldiers riding vehicles that can hover in the air soon poured out of their base like an actual angry bees coming out of their homes to attack whoever the one who caused this much damage.

 **"Got their attention."** Activating his rockets to go even higher, Iron Man soared in the air, blasted a couple of nameless drones that were caught off guard, and flew away followed by the group of guards casing after him. **"Let's see how well you guys are good at shooting compared to making stuff!"**

Now, with all of A.I.M focused on one man, Spider-Man used the time he had to run to the broken entrance of their evil lair and looked down to see how far the drop it is.

"I can barely see the bottom." He said as he used his night vision to see in the dark tunnel. "Oh well," Taking five steps back, Spider-Man let out a short breath, sprinted, and jumped of the edge of the hole without any hesitation to what's below him. "It's not like I don't jump off of high places anyway."

* * *

Small lights and wires was what Spider-Man saw as he plummeted to the bottom floor of A.I.M. Each light he passed, his spider sense would started to tingle, getting worse and worse as time let on, until finally it became too much to handle.

 **(TWIP! TWIP!)**

Shooting two web lines that connected to the walls, Spider-Man slowed his descent in the right moment as his head was only just five feet away from hitting solid metal floor. Manipulating his webs to rotate him into a full circle, the hero could see that no other agent was anywhere near him. Prompting the wallcrawler to let go of his web and land right side up in a crouch.

"So this is what an A.I.M hideout looks like." He said as he saw the entirety of the layout to be an actual theme of yellow shaped hexagons. "Probably shouldn't have thought any less of them. If they have beekeeper-like suits, then why not making a bee themed evil lair? I would even say it would be weirder if they didn't do a large honeycomb-like base."

Eyeing whatever these yellow jumpsuited stole, Spider-Man could see many expensive looking lab equipment scattered around the area, even spotting some with logos he's all too familiar.

"Hammer industries..." He said as he walked to a power loader belonging to a rich tycoon living in Atlas. Moving his eyes to the next thing, Spider-Man saw more stolen property from other different companies and kingdoms. "They even have Osborn's tech down here too? Just how long have they been here? They shouldn't be fast enough to make such a large structure like this."

Thinking of a faster way to cover more ground, Spider-Man stuck to the walls and began his exploration, all the while hiding behind whatever was nearby to not get spotted from other A.I.M agents still in the compound.

 _'So much is down here...'_ Exploring more of the base and making sure to stick to the shadows for any guards who stayed behind, Spider-Man easily bypassed every watchful eye until he spotted one room that had more locks on it then the other ones he passed. _'it's says top priority'. Wonder why they got this one so heavily locked.'_

Spider-Man took a closer look but just as quickly hid behind an open the corner leading to another direction when he caught sight of two guards standing in front of the secured room.

 _'Don't want to start a fight this soon, Iron Man is already dealing with most of them outside.'_ Looking above his head, he spotted a grate blowing cold air. _'This must be their airduct system, that's perfect.'_

Crawling up to the grate, Spider-Man lifted it up, squeezed through and was now completely out of sight. _'This should lead to whatever they're trying to protect. Though, I wonder what I'll see when I get in there.'_

With the help of his night vision, Spider-Man went to the correct vent that led to the top secret door. Since it was dark in the room, Spider-Man had no trouble exiting out of the vent and saw what was laid before him. What he saw, were cages of different sizes in a room that is far larger then he first thought. These weren't your run of the mil bad guy cages you see in TV shows either, the bars were thicker, sturdier, some even had odd devices sticking from the top making Spider-Man assume that it was used to hurt whatever creature that get trapped in it.

 _'Can't believe they have a large room like this holding these things,'_ Looking past each empty cage, the more he looked past them, the more Spider-Man saw some cages being covered in thick layers of material. _'Large and small cages, each one having a different type to hold whatever was designed for... do I even dare to see what's underneath?'_

Curiosity taking the better of him, he picked one that was next to him, grabbed the obstruction, and pulled. _'God, please let this not be what I think it is.'_

Hearing the only sound of the large cover blanket being thrown to the ground, what Spider-Man saw a cage, it's bars having large scratch marks, some even looking to be bent forward gave the hero a clear picture that whatever was in here was string. Looking inside the cage, he could spot a big ball of black in the back corner, it's size and shape being almost bigger than your average male adult.

 _'No, it's not just all black,'_ Spider-Man inched his head closer, his night vision able to get a better definition to what he was seeing in the cage. _'I can see it moving, only in subtle breath, and I think I see bone too. What is this...? Wait, I think it's starting to move.'_

Knowing to move away even with his spider sense telling him the danger, Spider-Man got in his usual defensive posture to react in case things turn hairy.

The black mass started to show it's true size to the hero outside of it's prison. Four massive limbs, each strong enough to cleave any foolish mortal in front of it slowly extended it's paws as if it was stretching. It's head, resembling that of a bear and nothing else raised it's head and opened it's massive jaws wide enough to show rows of sharp teeth that was ready to rip and tear anything deemed to be food. What was in front of Spider-Man made his eye widen, his breath shallow, and his fists clenching to see for the first time in his life the sole enemy of humanity he wished to fight off as a Huntsmen.

"Grimm." Spider-Man blurted out the word. "I'm seeing one for the first time."

 _'Dad and some of the family would always tell stories about all sorts of Grimm they fought against, but seeing in with my own eye doesn't give it enough justice.'_

Appearance wise, it was like looking at a black bear trapped in a cage. Only, there was no such thing as a bear being the size of a truck and having white plated bones sprouting throughout the body. How it acts and what it looks like may seem like any other creature with a very unique appearance, but years of knowledge dated back before Huntsmen were formed saved many lives at knowing what Grimm do when spotting it's prey.

 **(GRRRR...)** It's deep crimson eye soon spotted the lone figure outside it's prison, making the Ursa's instincts to kick in. **(GRRRAAAHHH!)**

Spider sense yelling at Jaune to move away at the threat of danger almost made him do just that. Luckily, he stood his ground as the Grimm's plan of killing the hero was stopped thanks to the solid steel bars keeping the monster inside.

"They attack anyone on sight." Spider-Man said outloud. "My dad told me these guys kill indiscriminately, even saying that they can even track us though negative emotions we emit. No wonder we labeled these guys as our greatest enemies, but that just makes things even more dangerous, because…"

Doing the exact same thing as the first cage, Spider-Man pulled several other covers to show other cages holding different types of Grimm. They usually take forms of present day animals.

Some of the common ones are wolfs.

"Beowolf." Spider-Man passed a cage with a snarling wolf Grimm clawing at his cage.

Boars.

"Boarbatusk." He passed a medium sized cage housing a roided out pig ramming it's large tusk at the durable bars holding it captive.

And snakes.

"And a King Tajitsu." Spider-Man was going to say more, only to stop when he saw a second head, a pure white headed King Taijitu coiling around it's counterpart. "Or King Tajitsus...?"

Pausing at the large conjoined snake's cage, Spider-Man looked at the cage housing the large creature, only to move his head to catch a glimpse of what's behind it.

"This can't be happening."

Now, with some Grimm, their average size tends to go from the size to a car, to the size of a small airplane. So it was to Spider-Man's horror when he even more cages behind the first set. Far larger then the one Spider-Man was seeing, even going far to think that the one in front could just be the small fry of the Grimm that were being held in cages still impressively large.

"How dense am I to not see these?" Spider-Man jumped on top of the King Taijiru's cage. "I finally understand why we didn't see Grimm in the forest. A.I.M wasn't killing Grimm that were invading their territory, they were capturing Grimm. Even going so far as to catch some that shouldn't even be here in such small spaces."

 _'This goes far beyond what I suspected. I thought they were just hustling their way in to Vale just like Roman or the Maggia. Now I'm starting to get even more confused with these guys! I mean, who's insane enough to try and capture live Grimm? I mean, who!? I don't think me or Iron Man will be enough to stop all this. Maybe it's best if we can try another-'_

 **(GRAAAHH!)**

 **(HISSSS!)**

 **(AWROOOO!)**

The hero's inner ranting had to be stopped, when the Grimm who's cages were no longer covered started to make noise erupting some of the other Grimm from other cages to follow too.

"Oh..." Spider-Man pounded his head his fists. "Grimm react to negative emotions! I've been here thinking about all this stuff that the Grimm are making too much noise."

With the increase of so many dark creatures shouting, the guard outside the room stepped in to investigate. Their rifles in the ready, helmets emitting a steady flow of light was all Spider-Man saw before disappearing into the shadows to hide.

"These things are causing more trouble then they're worth." One guard said to his friend as both walked deeper and deeper into the Grimm room. "How much longer until do you think it's ready for use?"

"Not long." The second guard answered his partner. "It should be ready for use in a couple of weeks, but with Iron Man interrupting it's testing, it might be delayed."

"Seriously?" Spider-Man heard the first A.I.M guard letting out a groan. "I'm getting tired of being here and it's not just about the Grimm here. Vale is so lowtech, I'm sweating every time I go outside to change duties, and if we stay here just a little more then we were supposed to I'm going to lose my mind."

Continuing straight ahead, one of them saw that some of the cages were no longer shrouded by cloth. "Why are these things on the floor? Shouldn't they be over their cages?"

"It was probably pulled down by the Grimm. You know how some of them have spikes and claws? It could've gotten snagged."

"Seriously hope these things are worth keeping here. I still don't understand why these have to be part of whatever hair brained plan command thinks up."

"Quit complaining, we have a job to do and we're going to finish it. Besides, the benefits of doing this outweighs our own. If this succeeds, then we might have the opportunity to reap everything Vale has to offer."

"You mean, what's left of Vale when it happens."

As the two continued to investigate, the wallcrawler remained in hiding ontop of an empty cage, following them at least a feet away to make sure he had enough to hide if they decided to turn around.

 _'That doesn't sound ominous to me.'_ Spider-Man looked at the exit to see that they left it wide open for him to leave. _'Looks like these guys aren't good at keeping their post.'_

Not wanting to stay any longer then he has to, Spider-Man escaped through the open door and proceeded to explore other areas of the base.

 _'Security room, security room.'_ Spider-Man thought on the side of the wall as he tried to find the room that houses all the functions that work the facility. _'It has to be close, I can't expect Iron Man to take all of the guys by himself. If I can try and shut off what A.I.M is doing, then we might have a chance to take down whatever these goons are planning.'_

Passing over a dozen rooms so far, he almost thought that he might go off of Iron Man's playbook and just find the most important looking object in the base and destroy it.

 _'No, too risky for me to just blow stuff up. If I do that, then it might cause a collapse, or even set some of the Grimm lose and I'm not sure I'm ready to fight Grimm anytime soon. Yet, at least.'_

Suddenly, as if by random chance, the rumbling he felt above ground started to come up again, only this time it's much more powerful now that he's in A.I.M's lair. He was so rattled by the quaking that he thought that it would make him loose his grip on the wall he was crawling on. Fortunately for him, whatever was making the earthquakes soon stopped, but it made Spider-Man make thoughts on what A.I.M is making to cause such tremors.

"Well, this place is already making me feel like I'm totally out of my field here, so why not make it even more prominent that I have no idea what's going to happen next." He joked at his dark humor of the unknown, not knowing what else could be worse then seeing a large storage area filled with all sorts of monsters. "With whatever is making those quakes, I can only hope that it isn't leading to Vale."

Entering into the vents again, Spider-Man followed where the shaking was coming from. _'Is it some form of drill? Are they trying to dig under the biggest bank Vale has? No, it seems likely, but then I should've felt this seismic movement back in Vale. Also, the Grimm that are licked up, why are they capturing them when they have their own in Atlas?'_

Reaching to the end of the vent close to the source, Spider-Man slowly let himself out of the cooling duct, pressed his body onto the hallway wall, and continued his investigation on foot. _'I'm close to where it started...'_

"Whoaooo!" If Spider-Man was sure of himself this was the way to the source of all this, he was even positive when the shaking started to happen. "Getting this close to it, the rapid movements are getting stronger as I'm getting closer, guess I can pat myself on the back to know where I need to go."

Walking in the lone hallway, Spider-Man was starting to see that the walls he was walking on started to have windows to peer through.

"Wow." He snorted under his mask. "Honeycomb shaped windows. Man, I would make some jokes about bees and other bee related puns, but what I'm seeing out the window isn't really funny."

Out the window the hero was seeing through was not just a drill, but a giant contraception that looked like it was made to destroy kingdoms rather then some digging tool. It had large wheels for maneuverability, small gun turrets on top of it pointing to each side, thick armor that could withstand any Grimm attacks, but the most dangerous thing about it was what it was holding in the front. It may look weird that what was attached to the front of this moving fortress was a honeycomb shaped mirror, but what it carried had smaller mirrors sticking out of each six sides and at the center of the main one was a long metal rod.

"Welp." The wallcrawler look away from the window and laid his back on the wall. "That settles it, then. I have now stepped into full sci-fi. I swear if I start seeing them using an actual android, I'm going to lose it."

 **(WWIIRRRR~)**

Hearing a loud sound of something powering up, Spider-Man look out the window again to see their machine starting to form a bright light.

 **(FFWOOOOOOSSSHHH!)**

Lighting that was collected into the center soon released all the collected light into one focused beam, hitting the soil and causing it to disintegrate with each passing second.

"OOHHH!" Spider-Man said wide eyed in fascination as such a powerful display of science and ingenuity. "Now that is just plain cool."

 _'Also very dangerous if they ever decided it use it in Vale. I was impressed with their firearms not needed dust to shoot, amazed when they had their own transformable robot, but now I'm scared to see what other toys A.I.M has been making. I rather take care of Roman and the White Fang than deal with these guys on a daily basis.'_

Wanting to take a closer look, Spider-Man continued down the hallway to find any direction leading him to find a stairwell. Deciding that jumping over the stairrails were much faster than walking down, Spider-Man hopped, fell several floors below, and then grabbed the handrail just a floor above the bottom level.

Letting go of the rails, he softly landed on the last floor and quickly went behind a mound of rocks that was collected and put to the side. Seeing what the lower floor was, everything around was the opposite of the other floors above it. Instead of seeing hightech equipment, beecombs, and anything considered modern, the last floor was just a large excavation site.

The place was neatly carved into a dome shape field, either due to the beam making it this way or some of them using different tools, Spider-Man wasn't sure. In this large space, A.I.M had scattered flood lights, wires, and in the center of it all was a single hexagonal platform.

 _'That must be where they control that weapon.'_ Sticking his head a little more, Spider-Man could see some A.I.M agents behind different monitors, one in particular had a uniform a bit different then the rest of the beekeepers. _'That must be the queen bee of this nest. Or is it considered a king? A drag Queen?'_

"..."

 _'...I'll think about that later.'_

Wanting to get closer, Spider-Man used his agility and the shadows to creep behind equipment that was placed around the large field. Finding a good spot behind a stack of empty cases, the spider hero stayed motionless as he listened to what they were talking about.

"What's the status outside?" The leader spoke to one of the A.I.M agents manning a monitor showing the outside of Emerald Forest.

"We're taking some loses, sir." The nameless agent started to type on his keyboard. "Iron Man has found us and has been taking down our men. If he keeps this up, then he'll come down here and stop our advancement."

"It matters not if he can stop us," The leader of the beekeepers spoke as if everything was all part of his plan. "We have one piece of the plan already complete, even if we do fail in trying to connect this to the main tunnels, we can still send out the captured Grimm to our benefactor."

This news made the hero shudder at what he had heard from them, not just about the captured Grimm being sent to whoever wanted them, but the fact that there are more tunnels underneath Vale.

 _'What other tunnels are they trying to connect? Don't they mean make? Or are there already existing tunnels already made?'_ Spider-Man wanted to listen to more of what they were saying but unfortunately the computers that A.I.M were using started to blare loud noises to them.

"We just got final confirmation that Iron Man has taken down nearly all of our air assault troopers, sir." The agent sounded afraid as he looked at the other security cameras. "He seems to be going back to our base, he's going to enter and soon!"

By the man's dread of facing the hero that bested them back in Atlas, many of the agents started to be afraid of what might happen next. It was already weird to see a bee theme in this base, but to look at them starting to panic made Spider-Man think about a colony of bees getting agitated by a foreign threat for some reason.

"Calm yourselves." Was all the boss said as his calm and collected voice stopped the rest of the agents from cowering. Turning his gaze to the agent that sparked all this fear, the leader walked to the man sitting behind the computer and looked at the screen housing the video of Iron Man. "Though he has made several problems for us in Atlas, we are no longer in his playing field which means we can assume he would think that we would play the same song and dance as before."

"What are your orders, sir?" One of the other agents asked.

"Simple, really." Walking back to the center of the platform, their leader straightened his back and spoke his order of what's next.

"We run away."

 **(SNRK!)**

The hero was so wrapped with what their conversation was that he did not expect an answer like that from their leader, prompting him to let out a rush of air escaping his lips. _'Oh crap.'_

Alarmed at the noise, many of the agents got off their chairs, brandished their weapons, and pointed at where the noise came from. One of them that was closest to whatever made the sound walked to where they believed to have originated while the rest readied their firearms in case they have to take out anything that could hinder their mission.

 _'Seriously?! I stared at Grimm dead in the eye and the one thing that blew my cover is due to the fact I thought their boss's response was funny!? Man, my luck sucks!'_

Having the thought that now was the time to strike, Spider-Man waited for the man to get a little bit closer and at least take one down when their boss spoke once more.

"Enough." Their leader said with more firmness. "We can't waste our time on noises we hear, that leads to paranoia, paranoia leads to panic, and panic will make the larger Grimm we had such a hard time capturing to start going crazy. We must start our preparations now or else Iron Man will arrive much sooner, understood?"

Not wanting to disobey his orders, the agents holstered their weapons and went back to their stations and leaving Spider-Man more breathing room.

"Now that we're back on track," The head honcho looked at their laser that was currently off. "What's the status of our breakthrough?"

"We're almost there, sir." An A.I.M agent viewed a screen of the underground pathways. "One or three more will connect us to the tunnels leading to Mt. Glenn. By my estimate, we just need to-"

 **(BOOM! BOOM!)**

Bracing from the ground shaking that wasn't made by them, the man who was in the middle of talking shifted his screen to see what was happening. "Iron Man has now started to breach through our door, Sir!"

"Looks like we don't have the precious minutes," Not wanting to lose all their progress this late in the game, the boss of the base walked to one of the control panels and started his counter measure.

"Everyone, I need you to find a good firing position." He ordered as he began unlocking all security doors to allow Iron Man to come in. "By now, Iron Man will be arriving here soon so we must hold our ground until it's complete."

"Sir, are you suggesting we-"

"No time!" Their leader shouted. "He's already here!"

With all the doors unlocked, Iron Man made his entrance as he barged though the last security gate and reached the final floor of the facility. Now, with A.I.M in position, they wasted no time as they peppered their enemy with as many rounds as they can fire. Not fazed by their weapons as they bounced off his plating, Iron Man retaliated by shooting several blasts at the agents with some being unlucky enough to be hit.

 **"You know,"** Iron Man started to talk while he fired at A.I.M baddies. **"I was about to play another song to make a cool entrance, but it's already way past midnight and I really want to get this over with. So can we please cut to the chase and get to the part where you guys give up?"**

Feeling a bit insulted at how Iron Man was all blasé about dealing with A.I.M, the leader got up from his hiding spot and fired his sidearm at Iron Man who had his back turned. Thanks to Iron Man's armor, it was durable enough to take the rounds and was enough to alert Iron Man at who was shooting him in the back.

Now that his position was found, the A.I.M leader did his best to find a different spot, only for Iron Man to now focus on the man who runs the operations. Not wanting this to drag on, Iron Man added more fuel to his boots, making him close the distance and grabbing the leader by hooking his armed arms under the man's armpits.

 **"Looks like I caught the big fish."** The flying metal man taunted. **"Now, how about you tell your little colony to give up? Wouldn't want them to lose their queen, right?"**

"No, Iron Man." Rather than screaming for dear life, the A.I.M Boss just laughed, pulled something from his person, and raised it over his head. "It is _you_ who is caught!"

Not having time to react to what was about to happen, Iron Man's vision soon turned stark white, causing him to lose his vision and his ability to steer. His body soon reacted automatically to the discomfort, letting his prey go so he may try to get his eye back in order. As the boss fell back on the ground in a rough landing, one of the agent sprinted to their leader's side.

"Get to the controls!" The boss seethed in pain, possibly due to a fractured leg from the fall. "And get someone to shoot Iron Man down. NOW!"

"Yes, sir!" Raising two finger on the side of his helmet, the agent helping their boss soon talked to whoever was receiving the transmission. "We need someone on the machine guns, Iron Man is stunned, but not for long!"

Hearing the message, one of the nameless agents climbed to the machine guns attached to the giant laser cannon, aimed at Iron Man, and fired a hail storm of heavy artillery.

Still having his vision blurry, Iron Man was not able to defend himself as the machine gun's bullets pelted him with high rate of fire, that some of them were able to hit one of his propulsion boots. Not having a stable flight, he had no choice but brace for impact as he crash landed on the ground.

"Iron Man!" Spider-Man got out of his hiding spot and was tempted to help, but when he saw their leader starting to type something on the control board made his spider senses to go on high alert.

What came next came to a surprise to the rest of A.I.M as the leader typed a few button and soon, the entire base started to flash red followed by a loud voice telling everyone of what just happened.

 **[ALERT! ALERT! EJECT SEQUENCE HAS BEEN INITIATED! ALL MEMBERS MUST PROCEED TO THEIR DESIGNATED AREAS BEFORE LAUNCHING! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!]**

"And now," Typing something else in the computer, the screen he was using started to show a timer set to count down. "Once this counter hits zero, It'll set off the rockets that will cause our escape, as well as bury Iron Man in the rubble! I must admit, our superiors still wish to take that armor, but seeing first had the capabilities it has, i'm sure they'll understand that it's better if no one has it. Good bye, Iron Ma-"

 **(TWIP! TWIP!)**

"What!?" Screamed the A.I.M leader as a large sticky substance latched onto his helmet obscuring everything he sees. As he tried to remove it with his free hand, the man still tried his best to start the countdown only to realize that his other hand wasn't moving. "My hand's stuck! What the hell is happening now!?"

"What's happening is that I just stopped some dude who just did an evil monologue." Spider-Man spoke as he stooped the man from doing any more damage to his new friend. "Seriously, I mean, I heard Roman talk, but at least his talks were interesting to hear. Yours just sound bland and doesn't really have the same flamboyant charm... I know! Have you ever decided to wear eye liner?"

Having enough to deal with, he ripped off his helmet and faced whoever dared to do this to him. "Spider-Man!? You're here?! But we thought you stay within the city?!"

"Meh," Spider-Man shrugged his shoulders. "Decided I should try to open my webs a bit, make my home a little bit bigger. Or, maybe the fact that I have radical beekeepers trying to invade my home. Either way, I think this is the part where I just punch you until you don't even remember what day is today."

Having Iron Man was bad enough, but with Spider-Man in the mix and he thought that it would be the end for him. Too bad that in Spider-Man's attempt to stop him from starting the rockets, he failed to do something even more sinister.

"Oh no, Spider-Man." Using his free hand, the A.I.M operative pressed a button from the computer, causing the laser to activate. Not done yet, the man in charge punched the controls to make the giant weapon aim it's beam at Iron Man was finally getting back up on his feet,. The force behind it destroying the computer panel so no one will be able to stop it. "I won't forget the day we kill you and Iron Man!"

"Iron Man! NOOO!" Moving even before his mind can make a response, Spider-Man pushed his legs into overload as he sprinted to help Iron Man get out of the way. Having the superhuman speed as help, Spider-Man was fast enough to grab Iron Man before the laser could hit. "Got ya!"

 _'Spider sense still going crazy! I can't tell what type of danger it's telling me, there's so many people trying to shoot at us it's hard to actually sort out which is the bigger threat!'_

Doing his best to maneuver under heavy fire, Spider-Man ignored the beam as it continued it's assault even though it's intended target was gone, hitting nothing but the walls. As it did not stop from firing, the machine soon started to overheat, causing it to increase the power it was emitting. Soon, the beam destroyed more earth, making everyone stop trying their luck to shoot the heroes and more on getting the heck out of dodge.

Seeing the agents heading to the upper floors, the leader decided to cut his loses by ripping his uniform in order to get his hand from Spider-Man's sticky webbing. Now, with both hands free, the man typed the final codes for the countdown, left, and soon the screen started to count down in five minutes.

"Iron Man," Spider-Man looked back to his friend who was under his arm. "Hand tight, I'm going to try and get us out of here!"

 **"Kind of hard to since I can't see anything right now!"** The still blind Iron Man complained. **"Dammit! Can't believe he decided to pull something like that! Next time, I'll make sure to remind myself to make my helmet optical lenses be able to endure a situation like that."**

"That's great that your thinking about tomorrow, Iron Man! Because there's not going to be a next time if we don't get out!" Shooting a webline to attach itself to A.I.M's base, Spider-Man attempted to climb the string strand with one arm, but was stopped when he felt the base starting to move. "Hang on!"

What happened next, Spider-Man couldn't really explain really. The base that he tried his best to enter, now started to rise out of the was once an underground lair soon turned into a floating ship as it continued to rise higher and higher into the sky.

"Just a couple of more feet until we're in open air!" Spider-Man shouted to Iron Man. "We're going to make it!"

Feeling the sensation of a hot knife stabbing his skull, Spider-Man's head looked down at where his sense was telling him to see that the machine that was firing the laser started to glow a bright light. "That can't be good."

 **"What isn't good?"** Iron Man asked before he was answered by the a large explosion that was caused by the laser overheating sending a large plume of fire and smoke upward. Just when the explosion was rising, Iron Man's helmet finally restarted, prompting him to see the upcoming fire reaching for them **"Oh dear."**

The force behind the shockwave made the two heroes become engulfed by the explosion, leaving them to see colors of orange and red until what was left of them to see was black followed by a loud crash.

 **(BOOM!)**

And after all of that... was silence.

* * *

 **Finally watch Enter the Spiderverce and I got to say that I am now and forever will be a diehard fan over Stan Lee and Steve Ditko for making a hero that can be anyone. I really recommend to watch the movie to those who are new to Spider-Man, the movie will show you more people who carry the title and maybe those types of Spider people will be your favorite Spider-Man.**

 **Wow, let me tell you that this chapter was a roller coaster of trying to mesh together two already great heroes into one epic team up. I thought of how they both act, what they use, and also their opinion on Huntsmen. The beginning was just them bantering and also trying to understand one another before they have to fight a common enemy.**

 **Jaune, who never thought of seeing another person do the same thing as he does, tries his best to act more mature since he sees someone who has a much more better grasp at dealing with A.I.M who is a step above the usual scrap fight Spider-Man deals with. I had my hand in the Iron Man's science talk about why they weren't spotted so soon in the Emerald forest, but I'm not sure if it makes any sense since I'm** **not that up to date on Iron Man facts.**

 **This chapter had a lot of things now adding to the mix, one of them I'm sure your glad to see are the Grimm now taking a role in whatever A.I.M has in store for them. It's also the first time Jaune has ever saw one in person, even more surprising for him when he sees that there are other cages way bigger making him see the grand scale these monsters can become.** **You guys will probably wonder why A.I.M captured the Grimm, but that will be known in the next chapter, probably at the end I think.**

 **Speaking about questions, another one I'm sure you guys will ask me is Jaune's new ability to feel movement through his webbing. Well, I would like to let you guys know that his newly discovered ability has been with him the entire time, he just never thought of using it on the floor he stands on though. It's also another gift bestowed upon him form his spider bite, the same with his organic webbing and night vision. If you guys wish to know more about it, then your not alone since Jaune will have to start looking In to his biology for any other secrets his body might be hiding!**

 **For A.I.M, I wanted to have a group that Spider-Man was never really prepared for, if it was the Maggia he can at least compare them to Roman and his gang, so I thought of a group that would be too much for Spider-Man to handle alone. Needless to say, it worked, but a bit too much now that A.I.M has escaped and Iron Man and Spider-Man was caught in the blast. I hope you guys will forgive me in this cliffhanger, but with something like this, I can only make so much for a chapter. So, to keep it at a minimum, I will make this a two part, the second piece of this will be made before this month is over, so please take care and be patient. Thank you.**

 **Shout out to my Beta who helped this story out, please check out his work when your done with this chapter. Don't forget to Fav, comment, and follow if you want the latest update. Hope you guys liked it!**

* * *

 **(Omake: The PIZZA Finale)**

* * *

It was really hard to understand sometimes that people think of Spider-Man as crazy for wearing a costume and pronouncing that he's an actual superhero. However, seeing two grown men wrestle in front of him who are also wearing colorful suits in a burning down fire makes Spider-Man almost agree that he could possibly crazy.

"You're dead, Wade!" The guy with an actual bullseye carved in his forehead said to the red merc.

"Are you seriously going for that?" Deadpool didn't seem fazed by the threat, in fact, he almost sounded disappointed. "Jesus, I hear that all the time and if I had a Lien for someone saying that to me, I could literally buy all the bullets I could get my hands on and kill every person who said that to me. Unfortunately I don't have a good memory , so I'm just going to say you're the first person and I'll start from there."

Still in Deadpool's hold, the killer wriggled his right hand into the side of his leg to pull out his knife, stabbed Deadpool's side, and used the small window to viciously buck his head back to break Deadpool's nose.

Rolling away to make some distance, Bullseye got to a knee and threw it at his opponent.

 **(TWIP!)**

Right as the knife was just mere seconds away from sticking deep into Deadpool's head, the wallcrawler shot an organic web line to stop the throwing knife and changed the course to have it embedded into the roof.

Not yet done with his actions, Spider-Man aimed both wrists at the archer to stop his killing spree but was a bit surprised to see the man able to dodge his lines. Not giving up the fight, Bullseye could see the fire already eating most of the house so in his resourcefulness he elbowed a wall nearby. Ripping out some wood from the hole he made, he stuck them into the fire and was now holding firelit sticks and a hand full of rusty nails.

"RAAAH!" Throwing them with scary accuracy, Bullseye aimed for vital spots in the human body that would kill a normal man.

Too bad for him, Spider-Man isn't normal.

Fusing his enhanced agility and spider sense, he weaved past each thrown weapon aimed at him as if they were in slow motion. From outside perspective, it was Spider-Man that moved faster than the eye could see as he was still standing with no damage whatsoever.

"I've thrown things too, ya know!" Spider-Man taunted. "But I kind of stopped doing that since I'm no longer in kindergarten."

"Ha! Ha! Ha~!" Laughing at Spider-Man's jokes, Deadpool walked to his fellow masked vigilante and hanged an arm over Spider-Man's shoulder. "Heh heh… yeah, he means like throwing stuff is for kids."

"Why did you put your arm ar-what the hell!?" Spider-Man shouted his question as he saw the nails that were thrown at him were now in Deadpool's body. "Why are you hit!?"

"Oh, these?" Deadpool looked at the new wounds that were afflicted on him. "Yeah, Bullseye throwing stuff sounds stupid, but damn does he not make the craziest shots. Don't worry, it'll heal pretty quick."

"That just raises more questions than answers." He gave Deadpool a flat look. "Seriously, who are you guys and why are you two here? Also, this place is on fire, so why don't we take this outside?"

"Hey, this ain't our house and the guy who lives here is divorced, so I'm not sure if he even cares about this place since his ex-wife has custody at the end of the week."

"How do you know that?"

"Oh, I was here this morning, got bored, and went through his stuff. Got to say, the guy is a total loser, his wife is a smart lady for leaving him."

"This just makes me feel like I shouldn't be helping you."

"Hey, I never said I was the good guy here, but Bullseye is way worse. Plus, he has my guns."

"Guns?" Spider sense reacting to danger, Spider-Man pushed Deadpool out of the way just a second faster before a round was fired. "Why does he have a gun?! I thought he used a bow and arrow!"

"Oh, that's easy, the guns are mine." Deadpool answered with complete honesty. "I had them on my pants, outside, I mean. If he tried to grab the hun inside my pants then I would have had to buy him dinner and also a doctor visit."

"I feel like I should've let you got shot and trust me when I say this, I never felt that way to anybody."

"That's so sweet of you~" The merc with the mouth used his hands to make a heart shape over his chest.

Scowling at Spider-Man's interference, Bullseye decided that he overstayed his welcome and ran deeper into the burning fire. Not looking at his burden, Spider-Man caught sight of Bullseye trying to make a break for it. _'I can't let this guy leave! Got to stop him before any more distractions can happen!'_

"Don't worry, Spider-Man!" Said distraction was the first one to gave chase to the crazed killer. "I got him!"

"You have got to be kidding me!" Not wanting to have this idiot make the problem even worse, Spider-Man tried to follow too but stopped when his sense kicked in.

Body stopping out of reflex, Spider-Man halted his pursuit when a beam from the house collapsed and separating the two loudmouths. "Deadpool! I'll meet you around back!"

"You got it, buddy! I'll make sure I get Bullseye! One way or the other!" Deadpool shouted from the other side.

"You mean alive!?" Spider-Man asked, not sure if he was liking what Deadpool was insinuating.

"...Sure!"

 _'At this point, I'll take what I can get.'_

Exiting out of the front door, Spider-Man made it around the back of the house and waited for Bullseye to make his appearance.

"Alright, it shouldn't take too long for them to show up. Hopefully I can wrap this up and go back to wo-"

Suddenly, spider sense warning him of danger, Spider-Man instinctively dove back as an explosion erupted from the inside of the house. Getting up from the ground, Spider-Man looked back at the house to see there was nothing left to even call it a house, let alone seeing anyone else.

"Crap." Was all Spider-Man could say as he looked at the destroyed house. Not really sure what he should be feeling at the moment since both people he met were psychopaths.

* * *

Not soon after, the cops finally arrived to investigate the crime scene, giving Spider-Man the signal to leave and let the authorities to handle the rest. Changing back to his normal attire, Jaune walked back to where he left his bike while also going over what the heck he just went through.

 _'That was the most confusing fight I ever encountered. I never saw those guys before and I'm not sure if I ever want to see them again. Still, I hope that Deadpool guy made it out, even though I feel like he's in the same level of craziness like Bullseye.'_

Reaching the street where he left it, Jaune walked to where he remembered it, but soon realized he walked all the way to the end of the street without seeing his bike.

 _'This can't be happening,'_ Re-tracing his steps, Jaune walked on the same side walk in hopes that maybe someone just moved his bike somewhere. _'Why is this happening?!'_

"Huh?" Stopping mid step, Jaune spotted a red circle painted on the curb of the sidewalk. Feeling like he had nothing to loose at this point, Jaune walked closer to get a better look. "You have got to be f#%*!# kidding me."

The symbol painted was a red circle with black lines followed by two white dots, resembling a certain merc Jaune had met not too long ago. Written beneath the symbol was a simple message from Deadpool saying that he I.O.U's for the person who owned the bike.

"I hate you, Deadpool." Was Jaune's only answer to the merc with the mouth as he simply walked back to his boss, told her the situation, and called her nephew, Jeremy, about how he'll probably loose his job.

Remembering what Deadpool's purpose for even being there in the first place made Jaune use the same harsh words Jeremy used to hurt Deadpool's contract: Meghan. Needless to say, if Jaune ever meets Deadpool again, he'll tell him that he doesn't have to go after Jeremy, not anymore.


	26. Chapter 26

**Disclaimer: Brotherhoof12 does not own Spider-Man or RWBY.**

* * *

 **(Chapter 26: Failure to launch, but success in opportunity)**

* * *

It happened so fast in the eyes of Spider-Man. The fighting, the hails of gunfire, explosions, and even the roar of engines barreling out of the huge man-made tunnel A.I.M made.

Yet, for all the noise that occurred to the hero, it was odd for him to no longer hear anymore loud noises. If he was honest, all Spider-Man could hear was the calming sound of nature minding its own business. Hearing the nice wind blow, leaves rustle, and the occasional cricket noise made it a nice step up from all the wild stunts he pulled with another hero he just met.

 **"Spider-Man…"** Speaking about another hero, it was as if he could hear Iron Man right this moment.

The wind started to breeze over him, causing the young spider to shift his body due to shivering.

 **"Come on, Spider-Man."** He could hear the same voice speaking a bit louder this time. **"Now's not the time… grr… for rest!"**

Not only the wind, but soon other noises, not even remotely sounding like it was part of nature, started to make the webhead toss and turn in his sleep.

 **"UGGHHH!"** This time, what Spider-Man was hearing was no longer peaceful, what he was hearing was someone in pain. **"I swear I feel like this thing is getting heavier by the second!"**

Mind finally waking up, Spider-Man's body soon went into overdrive and immediately propped himself up to take care of whatever danger he's facing.

 **"Don't move!"**

That one command instantly caused Spider-Man's body to stay deathly still as his mind finally started to process on what's happening.

Eyes adjusting to the new surroundings, Spider-Man can see that he was now outside of the pit but where he's currently in made him wish that he could go back. The large hunk of metal looked to be damaged from the blast, possibly the undercarriage of A.I.M flying base, only now it was right on top of the heroes with any moment of collapsing.

However, the one thing that's stopping it was Iron Man doing his best to keep the large object from ending them.

 **"Glad you're finally awake."** Iron Man spoke, his usual cool demeanor now replaced with a more frustrated and tired tone. **"As you can see, we're not out of the woods yet."**

"Iron Man?" The arachnid hero moved his head to see that not only were they outside, but was outside with a large part of fallen debris right ontop of them. "Hold on, let me-"

 **"Don't."** Iron Man's optics flared bright to show his aggression, causing Spider-Man to stop. **"If you try to help me, then we'll be crushed."**

"How can you say that?!" Spider-Man shouted. "You look like you can't handle the weight!"

' _Wait a minute.'_ Seeing something odd about how Iron Man was holding the A.I.M debris. _'Is he… he can't be!'_

"I-Iron Man..." The black suited hero lifted his hand and pointed at what he was seeing. "Your left arm... is it..."

 **"Oh, you mean this?"** Iron Man did his best to move his left shoulder to wiggle his arm but it seem to not respond as he tried his best to play it off. **"Yeah, must have landed pretty badly on my left side. That, or the blast must have knocked out my left servo."**

"Is that why you're kneeling on your left knee?" Looking a bit closer, Spider-Man could see Iron Man was trying his best to put all the weight on his right side. "That can't be good! How long were you holding this thing!? Actually, how long have I been out!?"

Staying quiet at Spider-Man's question only made the webhead feel more and more dread build up inside him as Iron Man stayed silent for more than a minute.

 **"Shoot."** Seemingly out of place to laugh at a time like this, Iron Man told Spider-Man what happened while he was out cold. **"I built this suit to do all sorts of things, but the one design flaw that's biting me in the ass is that I didn't add a clock to this thing. Anyway, if I had to guess, I would say you've been out for a little over ten minutes."**

"PFFFFF!" Was Spider-Man's reply to Iron Man's nonchalant way of saying that he was holding a large chunk of space craft for over ten minutes. "I was out for that long!? How are you able to lift that for so long!?"

 **"Oh, pff! You think I wear this thing just to look cool while also kicking ass?"** Iron Man boasted about his armor, almost forgetting that he's the only one keeping them alive. **"I carry heavy stuff back in Atlas on a daily basis. I can lift cars, busses, and even one time I stopped a falling train! If my armor wasn't half damaged right now, I could probably lift this up no problem."**

As if fate was proving him wrong, the sound of the large metal bearing down on him started to shudder, causing Iron Man to grunt out in pain.

"Looks like your ego just made it a bit too heavy to carry now." The masked spider hero said with a dry tone.

 **"Ok,"** Iron Man let out a huge sigh of relief when it stopped moving. **"I'll admit that right now is not a good time to gloat. But don't worry, everything is going to be fine. I'm routing the remaining amount of power into my left side, it should only take a couple of more minutes."**

"Are you sure that you can still hold on for that long?" Spider-Man asked, his worry showing in his voice. "I know it's been ten minutes, but that's still a pretty long time to hold this thing up."

 **"It's fine, Spider-Man. My armor has an armor lock so I'm not really holding it per se, my joints in the armor are locked in place, so it should be able to hold just long enough for my suit to reboot."**

Hearing that last part of his sentence made Spider-Man do a double take.

"I'm sorry, are you saying that you're technically stuck in that position until your armor resets itself?"

 **"Well..."** Iron Man paused at Spider-Man's simplified statement. **"When you put it like that…"**

"Ugh..." Laying flat on the ground, the hero turned his head to see the forest and all its beauty. "Can you estimate how much longer?"

 **"I can guesstimate."**

"Is that even a word?"

 **"Yes, and even if it wasn't, I just did."** The armored hero said. **"In all seriousness though, that explosion caused some minor problems to my suit. Just give it another ten minutes and I should be able to lift this thing."**

Looking around his cramped area, Spider-Man can see that not only was there a giant scrap metal ontop of them, but also several other large chunks of metal scattered around too.

' _Could Iron Man be holding more the just the undercarriage? I see a broken thruster, maybe he might be holding more and is just lying to me so I won't have to worry.'_

Not long after, Spider-Man's worries over others started to make him move uncomfortably, his anxiety of not being able to help made it all known to Iron Man.

 **"You know,"** Keeping his mind focused, Iron Man explained more on what happened after they made it out of the tunnel. **"After we escaped from that explosion, you still held on, even when you were lugging around my dead weight. And trust me, this armor by itself is over 200 pounds."**

The conversation was able to ease Spider-Man to move less and made him start to talk in his usual carefree voice.

"200?" The web head said in surprise. "You weighed like a sack of rocks when I lifted you and trust me when I say this, but it's a compliment. I lifted stuff way heavier than you!"

 **"Really?"** Iron Man asked, his interest piqued at hearing what Spider-Man was implying. **"You? Able to lift heavy object? I'm sorry, but I find that kind of hard to believe since you'd need something like Aura to perform some of those crazy moves you pulled back there."**

"No, I'm serious." Spider-Man lifted his head to look at Iron Man. "I never heard of Aura until I got here, and even then, I'm stronger than most Huntsmen I met."

In his head, Jaune could remember what Ruby told him about her team and their traits. Weiss with her dust and glyphs, Blake's clones, and her older sister's semblance about rage giving her more strength.

' _Even their weapons play to their style as well. Though Ruby seemed the happiest when she was talking about weapons.'_

Thinking back on his time as Spider-Man, he could remember all the fights he's been in, some more threatening than the last. Yet, after all the beatings he got from all of them, he still couldn't put his all into them.

After all, he's been holding back from the beginning.

"Not too sound arrogant or self-centered, but I try not to put my all in every fight I encounter. I don't deal with insane nerds with a bee interest or other bad guys straight out of some sci-fi movie."

 **"Hey, I don't fight people like that. Mostly, anyways."** Iron Man responded to Spider-Man's statement.

"In Vale, I deal with some low crime stuff like thieves, mugging, and your occasional lost tourist."

 **"What about Huntsmen? There has to be some of those people deciding to get what they want than help others, am I right?"**

"Well, yeah." A certain pair of Huntsmen came to mind. One who loves to smoke cigars and the other who loves violence the most. "Though, I do get a wakeup call about the danger of holding my punches against those types of people, I still try to make sure I don't hurt them too badly. A wise man once told me: With great power, comes great responsibility."

 **"That's… he sounds like a good man."** Iron Man said, his voice only barely a whisper.

"He was, and is the reason why I'm here in the first place." He didn't know why, but it was easy for Spider-Man to confess his secrets to another person. Perhaps due to them sharing the same profession? "I never asked to be what I am, truth be told I wanted to be something else when I got here, but reality doesn't work like that. I was in a bad place back then, but thanks to that man who helped me pick myself up, I dedicate my life to follow his teachings."

 **"I'm glad to hear that, Spider-Man."**

"Yeah," Jaune smiled under his mask as he remembered the good times he shared with the Parkers. "Which is why, even though I fight, I make sure that with each punch or kick I make, I makes sure I hold back just the right amount to make sure it doesn't cause something life threatening."

 **"Even when dealing with Aura?"** He asked the spider themed hero.

"Especially with Aura." Another thought came to Spider-Man's head when he remembered his last tussle with Roman dealing with a broken wrist when he tried his luck on punching an enraged Spider-Man. "I tell myself that I don't have to hold back when I fight Huntsmen and to let my full strength out. But I've been fighting with normal people for quite some time that my mind instinctively holds back the last moment I connect."

' _Though, even when I hold back, I can still give a Huntsmen a bit of a hard time.'_ Remembering some of the Huntsmen he faced, he's almost glad they have Aura or else they'd be dead if they didn't.

"However, there are times when I deal with robbery and some other unsavory stuff that I wish people didn't have to resort to."

 **"Like the White Fang and their decision of radical terrorism?"** Iron Man said out of nowhere, making the black masked hero pause.

Whatever train of thought Spider-Man was about to make soon changed to mild irritation when hearing Iron Man say such a thing about them.

"Some didn't have a choice." Spider-Man said, trying not to sound agitated at the least.

 **"I'm sure some didn't."** He agreed with Spider-Man. **"Still, it doesn't mean that all of them are good either. One bad apple spoils the bunch, so it's only logical to take the bad ones out. However, sometimes, just because they look like a good apple doesn't mean they're not rotten to the core."**

 _'What is he talking about?'_ Spider-Man wondered. _'That doesn't make sense. If you take out the bad apple, then the good ones will be fine.'_

Even if Iron Man couldn't see Spider-Man's face through his mask, he still decided to explain more on his reasoning.

 **"If you ever decide to check out Atlas, either by costume or out of costume, then you should be careful of who you meet. Just because we're the most 'advanced' kingdom doesn't mean we've advanced our morality."**

"Are you saying that some bad people can act the part to fool other people?"

 **"That's part of it, but there's more to that than just two-faced liars. No, I believe that there's more to it than just Faunus being treated as unequal to humans. Another way is due to the environment."**

"Environment?"

 **"Yup, like how some plants and animals adapt to a different landscape. I've seen some Faunus live along humans and none whatsoever showed any distaste towards the other. However, those are rare since it occurs in villages that are outside the protective walls of major cities in our kingdoms. If you go deeper and deeper into more populated areas, then you'll see the difference."**

' _Now that I think about it, Ansel was never a heavily populated place so I never saw any problems between discrimination. Yet, when I came to Vale, I saw a huge gap between the two.'_

 **"Honestly, we might try to bring coexistence to Faunus and humans, but sometimes, the place they live can affect them much more than words. A teacher teaches students education for the future, a drill instructor teaches recruits combat, and parents teaches their kids morals. Morals that can be changed to whatever the parents want to tell their impressionable kids."**

' _Things like racism toward another race that isn't like you.'_ Was what Spider-Man concluded from Iron Man's theory on the White Fang. _'Even if I take care of the White Fang's bad influence, that doesn't mean their teaching will go away either. God, I must be an idiot if I thought things could be easy if I just stopped them from doing crime.'_

"I don't see it much since I started becoming more popular," He told the iron hero. "I want to at least think that I have improved Vale in some aspects, but I know it's going to take more than just me to clean it up."

 **"Amen to that."** Iron Man agreed to Spider-Man's answer. **"Atlas has so many crimes underneath its so called 'order' that I feel like it'd just be easier if I just help the outer villages with their problems. I mean, they have at least got their act together in knowing that hating one another is a waste of time."**

"You mean, cause of the Grimm?" He guessed.

 **"Most of the time, yeah. The Grimm is a threat to Remnant, it's the reason why we built the kingdoms to keep the Grimm at bay. Though, I rather take on hordes of Grimm than fighting actual people. With Grimm, their main objective is killing us while people have a complex mind that gives different routes that lead to danger. That's why I like to think that people who live in villages don't waste their time on race since they're scared of Grimm and the occasional Huntsmen turned rogue."**

"That's a very complex way of thinking that, Iron Man."

 **"Well, it's really simple when you think about it. If you live in a large place that's well protected compared to villages, people will overpopulate it and soon will cause many problems for the next generation. Villages don't need to worry about that since there are fewer people and the threat of attack coming from everywhere. I know I'm rambling, but it makes sense to see that people who live behind the large walls in the kingdoms will take it for granted, eventually."**

"Let me guess, you've seen it firsthand in Atlas?" Spider-Man raised his eyebrow under his mask.

 **"Experienced some of it, too."** His chattering slowed down when he answered Spider-Man. **"I think the White Fang is a lost cause, the group I mean, not the people who got suckered in. The group lost all credibility when they had to have someone like Adam Taurus as some role model for others to join. Really, they mostly get successful due to preying on people who live in the city, teens mostly, since highschool is just the perfect place to ruin your childhood."**

"You're not wrong, Iron Man. I had some friends who were effected by bullying that caused them to join some bad groups."

' _I wonder how Mr. Pesto and his family is holding up. I remember that someone helped pay for the funeral, but I never got a name on who was generous enough to do it.'_

 **"Ah, that must be during the time when you gave that speech, right?"**

"Yeah, at the do-wait, what was that? Something about me doing a speech?"

 **"When you were talking to Roman and the White Fang who had you surrounded. I'm sure you haven't seen it due to so many people posting new things on the internet, but after you stopped them from stealing Dust from the docks, there was an amateur recording of you making a very good speech about the Faunus not having to resort to joining the White Fang."**

' _How come I didn't know that?! Wait, how long was it known? Did Aunt May watch it!?'_

"May I ask, how long since that video was on the internet?"

 **"Not long really, probably within a day or two, someone was able to take it off due to Vale's government trying to track whoever posted it. Not sure who was the culprit, but whoever it was must be a very good hacker if they were able to elude the police for so long."**

' _Too good.'_ Spider-Man thought. _'I guess since I was so focused on stopping the people from doing bad crimes, I never once thought that some people who hang around the docks might catch sight of everything. Was it a worker? A hobo? Maybe just some random citizen caught in the wrong place at the wrong time? Or maybe one of the White Fang members just decided to record what I was saying before it went to heck? Man, tonight is just full of new things I'm discovering, I wonder what else I'm about to learn?'_

 **"The video is still hard to find, even if the person who uploaded it found some way to take it down, there are bound to be other people who saved it. Either way, that wasn't just the speech, but your actions throughout the kingdom really made people start taking you seriously. In fact, there are people posting stories about how you hel-"**

Hearing from Iron Man about how other kingdoms think of him for helping people in Vale was a good feeling for him to have. It was never about personal gain, not after what happened that fateful night, so listening about how his efforts was making headway really made his day.

' _Reminds me about that Qrow guy,'_ Just remembering that man gave Spider-Man the shivers. _'God, I still remember the smell that still lingers on my old suit. Still, I need to try and find that guy again, I feel like there's more to whatever he was trying to sell me. Maybe whoever is behind controlling Roman and the Fang might also be working with Iron Man's enemies?'_

About to ask a question to his fellow masked hero, Spider-Man's skull soon started to hurt making the spider to quickly focus on the new threat that was closing in on them.

"Heads up, Iron Man." Spider-Man warned his new friend, his night vision seeing some movement within the foliage. "I'm seeing movement coming from the trees in front of us, you think some of A.I.M lost a few of their agents?"

 **"Unlikely,"** Iron Man said while his eyes tracked the meter shown inside of his helmet of how much energy that's still rebooting. **"All the scrap that landed is from the last floor of their base, the undercarriage, to be more specific. When we were still falling, I didn't see any other person besides us so the only thing besides us are-"**

 **(GRRRRRR...)** Out of the dark woods was a feral growl that was soon followed by a pair of deep, bright crimson eyes coming from the woods. What followed next was a pitch-black snout sniffing the area that was wafting smoke and metal, that soon make the beast's head emerge from the shadows to show the full scale of its monstrosity.

"Grimm." This time, Spider-Man anxiety started to rise back up due to how he is still unable to do anything other than cause more problems for Iron Man. "Though, it looks different than the one I found in a cage."

 **"You must have saw a regular Beowulf."** Iron Man told him. **"Like the animal kingdom, there is always an alpha within a pack orientated mindset. The Grimm makes it even more literal with having the alpha be much more distinct and far dangerous than the rest of its kind."**

"Oh, great. If a regular Beowulf was bad, then let's make it worse by having a hierarchy of far scarier versions of it!" Spider-Man said sarcastically. He then sighed loudly. "Ok, let's do this."

 **"I'm sorry?"** Iron Man said in surprise, even more so when he saw the hero shimming his way out of the tight space. **"What are you doing?!"**

"Simple," Now in open space, Spider-Man faced the alpha Grimm and raised his fists. "I'm giving you time."

 _'This is insane! I never fought a Grimm before!'_

Spotting the hero, the Grimm's curious demeanor was soon replaced with a more murderous visage. Showing its canines as it raised his body even higher to show the difference of height and build being obvious between the two enemies.

' _But, like Iron Man said: 'You gotta run before you learn how to walk.' Did I say it correctly? I can't remember right now since I'm about to fight an actual monster.'_

Not even giving it time to roar, Spider-Man made the first move by shooting an organic web glob right in its mouth, making it hard for the Grimm to open its mouth.

Stunned for the moment, it gave Spider-Man a window to deliver a wicked uppercut strong enough to off balance the massive creature.

Not done with the combo, Spider-Man grabbed the beast's head and rammed both of his feet in its chest. The force and the imbalance the Grimm had made an easy follow through for the creature to be rocketed back into the depths of the woods.

Landing gracefully on the ground, Spider-Man lowered his body in his usual stance as his skull told him that danger was still imminent.

"It feels so different," Spider-Man muttered. "I felt like I was punching an actual creature, fur and all, but at the same time, it felt like it wasn't natural. So this is what it's like to fight Grimm... my family never really told me about this."

Spider sense flaring up made the hero instantly jump a couple of feet away as the Alpha charged out of the woods and attempted to swipe at Spider-Man with its sharp bone claws.

"My, what sharp claws you have!" Came the usual witty banter Spider-Man was known for.

Completely oblivious to what the masked meat bag was saying, the Alpha continued its primal rampage as it clawed only thin air as Spider-Man effortlessly dodged its attacks.

"No, no, no." Spider-man spoke as he jumped over the creature and kicked its back, making the Beowulf stumble forward. "You're supposed to say something that goes with your sharp claws! Get it right! Ugh! This is why I fight against professional trash talkers, at least they can talk the talk while I beat the snot out of them."

Showing its frustration, the Alpha Beowulf went on all fours and began charging at Spider-Man.

"Oh crap!" Not liking the odds of trying to outrun it, Spider-Man shot a webline at one of the fallen shrapnel from the A.I.M base and flung towards the crazy monster.

Dodging the projectile, the Grimm was close enough now to leap in the air and dived straight at Spider-Man.

"Man, I know when I was young I always asked for a dog!" Staring at the incoming death from above, Spider-Man next move was to web his right hand into a make shift web boxing glove. "So here's my chance to play!"

Right when the Grimm was close enough to slam Spider-Man into the ground. Spider-Man shot his webbed fist like a pistol, aiming right at the Beowulf's snout.

Since Spider-Man's spider sense helps me see everything that is dangerous that's aimed at him, his perspective of what was happening was much slower in his view.

It was like seeing a speeding object collide with a window. With how the Grimm having a bone mask for a face, seeing his reinforced fist slowly shattering it was disturbing to the young spider.

The power behind the punch not only destroyed most of the mouth, the force was strong enough to send the monster a yard away from him.

"Ha!" Shouted Spider-Man. "You like that!? I just made that move on the fly!"

' _Was that enough to bring it down? I remember what my family told me about how they disintegrate after enough damage, so surely a somewhat shattered face mask will be enough.'_

Apparently not, with how the Beowulf squirmed and writhed from what he can only assume was pain. Seeming to not care if it was in pain or not, the Alpha writhed as it got back on its hind legs as it stared at the hero with its face almost being completely gone leaving only its eyes and a gaping hole that could only be its throat.

"Gross," Spider-man muttered. "Hey, Iron Man! Just how much longer till you're back in shape!?"

 **"Give or take another minute or so!"** Iron Man shouted underneath the large metal sheet. **"Why? I thought you were winning!"**

"Kind of...?" Was his reply as he eyed the Grimm wearily as it stood in place. "Its just staring at me, it's kind of creepy."

 **"Well, that's not good."** Was Iron Man's answer to what Spider-man was seeing.

"What isn't good?" The arachnid asked, now seeing the Beowulf starting to hyperventilate.

 **"If my memory is correct, and it's always correct, theories of Grimm can mostly be connected to how animals react whenever it knows it's about to be killed. It usually makes a loud noise signaling for other animals nearby to come for it."**

 **(Gragh! Gragh!)** Sounds of what Spider-man hears can only be compared to a person who smokes too much, the broken Alpha continued its efforts to make its howl, until it finally pushed itself to its limits to make its desperation known thought the Emerald forest.

( **GGRRAWWWOOOOOO!)**

"..."

"..."

"..."

( **AWOOOO!)**

( **AWOOOO!)**

( **AWOOOO!)**

 **"I know I can't see anything from down here, but I can hear enough to know that we're totally F*#!ed!"**

With its last ounce of strength gone, the Alpha's body soon went limp and soon started disintegrate in front of Spider-Man.

"Welp, if there's one thing that Grimm and all the other crooks I fight have in common." Out of the corner of his eye, Spider-man can see several crimson eyes staring back at him. "Is that they're sore losers!"

With prey in sight, the Grimm emerged out of the forest and came charging at the only human in sight.

"And this is the cue for me to RUN!" Pushing all the blood into his legs, Spider-Man sprinted back to where Iron Man was and kneeled to see the armored hero still in the same place. "Any longer!?"

 **"I am just 2 minutes in, I just need more time!"** Iron Man shouted, panic rising from the flying man.

"Ugh! Why does time feel so slow when in dire situations like these!?" Looking back at the small group of Grimm heading straight at him, Spider-Man looked at his only web shooter and thought of a plan.

"Hey, Iron Man," Spider-Man grabbed his fellow hero's attention again. "If I can lift this thing, will it be easier for your systems to mainly focus on rebooting than maintaining the energy to lift this thing!?"

 **"Well, yes, it'll make it go faster, but this is too heavy, you can't lift it-"**

"RAAH!" Ignoring what he said, Spider-Man grabbed the bottom of the metal scrap and lifted. "You were saying!?"

 **"...Right."** No longer wanting to argue, Iron Man was now looking behind Spider-Man and saw the Grimm. **"What about them? I can't use my repulsor blasts!"**

"That's where my next plan comes in to play." Taking a deep breath and exhaling out, Spider-Man slightly bent his legs and jumped. As the metal was in the air, Spider-Man faced the Grimm, moved the arm housing the web shooter, and fired.

 **(FWIP! FWIP!)**

Shooting his dust made webbing in front of him, the dust then reacted to the outside climate, and soon a barrier of fire erupted cutting off the Grimm.

"Gah!" Gravity coming back down, Spider-Man used one arm to hold the obstruction over him and the other trained at the Grimm in case he must shoot another fire web to keep them at bay. "You know, this really does seem hard to do with just one arm!"

 **"Just wait! I only got 1 minute!"** Iron Man looked at the meter slowly reaching to the end of its rebooting.

"God," Spider-Man grunted from the pressure and started to fire some more dust webbing to keep the fire going. "I swear, I feel like this situation will always happen if I ever meet another costumed hero teammate!"

Spider sense flaring, Spider-Man snapped his attention back to the fire as some of the more armored Grimm started to become brave.

"Back! Back, I say!" To show he means business, he fired a Dust web at one of the Grimm that stuck its head into the receding fire only to reel in pain as the fire web stuck to its face. "WOW! I never thought I would say something like that! I feel like a ring leader taming a lion!"

 **"Well, I hope you enjoyed that moment,"** Spider-Man could hear the now familiar sound of Iron Man's rocket boots firing up. **"Cause we're leaving!"**

 _ **(FWWOOBOOOM!)**_

Placing both armored gloves on the large obstruction, Iron Man blasted the metal away, launched himself at the masked spider, grabbed him under his armpits, and flew into the night sky.

"Waaah!" Flailing his legs that were shaking due to no longer being on the ground, Spider-Man looked down to see the Grimm still trying to chase them. "Are you going to fly any higher?! Also-BLUPR!"

Shutting his mouth shut, Spider-Man was able to keep his stomach from exiting out his mouth and soon swallowed it back inside.

 **"Don't worry, I'm about to put more power in the thrusters, just hang on!"**

Doing as he was told, Spider-Man latched his two hands on Iron Man's wrist and braced for the ride.

"Dodge!" Out of nowhere, Spider-Man shifted his weight to make Iron Man fly off course, just in the nick of time as a long-barbed bone spike narrowly missed them.

 **"Thanks for heads up."** Iron Man said, still focusing on flying.

"No problem! But, did you know these things can do that?!" Spider-Man asked, his head turned as he see some Grimm start shooting bone projectiles at them.

 **"Some of them."** He told Spider-Man. **"Either way, they're not exactly a good shot."**

To proof his point, the bone spears started to get less and less accurate, giving both heroes some breathing room.

"Wait," Spider-Man suddenly realized something. "If A.I.M was the reason some of the Grimm were not part of this forest, then doesn't that mean the Grimm will come back now that they're gone?"

 **"Of course,"** Said the iron hero. **"We saw them all on the forest floor. It really surprises me how fast these things can show up, I wonder how the-"**

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's all cool and stuff, but," Spider-Man was afraid if he might say what he thinks could come true. "Won't that mean that _all types_ of Grimm will start showing up?"

Not sure if he liked what he was hearing, Iron Man was about to calm Spider-Man's paranoia only to be stopped when a large shadow loomed over them.

 **(SQWWWWAAAAAAA!)** What was over them was a large Nevermore, bellowing out a deep and demonic bird sound.

 **"Most likely."**

"I hate this place, Iron Man." Spider-Man said with no humor in his voice.

Not wanting to be bird food, Iron Man increased his thrusters to get ahead of the flying Grimm, but with the sheer power behind the Nevermore's wings was still able to keep up.

 **"Looks like the night won't end any time soon!"**

Stomach starting to twist and turn thanks to his motion sickness, Spider-Man decided the best time to let it all out would be now.

"Iron Man, you think we can make it back to Vale?"

 **"You think that this flying rat can catch me? Please, I flew past fighter jets way faster than this!"**

"No," He lifted his mask to show his mouth. "Just… go fast, please."

Obliging to the handing spider, Iron Man's boots started to produce more power causing him to go the same high speed as last time around.

Seeing its prey about to escape, the Grimm flapped its wings harder, opened its beak as he was now just close enough to eat them whole.

 **(BLAUGH!)**

Only to soon recoil in surprise as Spider-Man let out chunks of his food into the air, causing it to fall inside the Nevermore's gullet. Not expecting its prey to do such a thing, the Nevermore lost its rhythm and soon started to slow down, giving Iron Man enough time to lose it.

All the while, as both heroes flew back to Vale, Spider-Man felt no shame as he continued to vomit into the night sky, leaving a trail as the two headed off to their respective homes.

* * *

With what happened to A.I.M escaping, Spider-Man would have thought that it was a huge failure to let them go. However, it seemed that since Iron Man destroyed whatever they were trying to get no longer available, Iron Man believed that last night wasn't a total waste.

So, after dropping him off at a route somewhat close to home, Spider-Man did his goodbyes and booked it to his house for a well-earned rest.

It didn't take long to finally reach Aunt May's home, but what was truly taxing to Spider-Man was going back to his room to only get little less then thee hours of sleep. He thought that he didn't stay too long last night, but after experiencing such new things such as Iron Man and A.I.M, might have just been him more focused on now rather than the later.

"Jaune!" Aunt May said his name, the familiar rhythm of her hand pounding at his door. "You need to come down stairs, I made wheat cakes~!"

"Mmm… a few more minutes, please." Jaune grumbled as he pulled his bed sheets over his head.

Not giving up so easily, Aunt May started to knock on the door much harder to wake up her only tenant.

"Jaune, you might want to come down soon~!" She said, far more cheerfully then the other times she's waken him up. "Someone is here for you and I think you know who~!"

 _'Dammit, Blake.'_ Jaune grudgingly got out of his bed and walked to his bathroom. "I'll be down there in five minutes, Aunt May!"

Satisfied that he's now out of bed, Jaune could hear her footsteps going down the stairs and went back to cater their guest.

"Already bad enough that I didn't get a good rest," Jaune spoke to himself as he washed his face to wake himself up. "But Blake visiting as a time like this seriously puts a damper on my peaceful morning. At least it's the start of the weekend, so I guess that's fine."

Checking himself in the mirror, Jaune then ended his check up by cleaning his teeth before heading downstairs.

 _'Ok, I wonder what other request Blake has for me.'_ He thought to himself as his feet landed on the main floor. _'I hope she didn't sneak away from her team, it would have been better if she brought her whole team.'_

"Morning, Aunt May!" Seeing the first person was his Aunt who greeted him with a warm smile.

"Morning, Bl-who are you?" The second person he saw, was not the same stone-faced girl he was used to. Rather, it was the same boy that resembled Ruby's partner, Weiss, sitting at Jaune's seat with a plate of freshly made wheat cakes.

"Jaune," His Aunt Huffed. "Don't be rude! I'm so sorry for how he behaves, sir."

 _'Sir? He looks like he's the same age as Ruby.'_

"Oh, not at all, Mrs. Parker." The guest placed his utensils neatly down next to the plate and got out of his seat. "It's really my fault for his confusion. We only met each other through other people, so this is our first time meeting each other face to face."

Standing in front of Jaune, the younger gentleman extended his has out as a sign of a good faith.

"My name is Whitley Schnee," Jaune reached out his hand and gave Whitley's hand a shake. "I'm here to tell you of how fortunate we have Jaune on board with our little project at Beacon."

 _'I know his name now, but I never knew he would know where I live to tell my Aunt? Wait, Schnee? This guy is Weiss' brother?'_

"Oh, yes! Of course, sir." Spoke Aunt May, her face filled with joy and youth that Jaune only saw once in a blue moon. "But if you excuse us, sir."

"Woah!" Jaune was caught off guard as Aunt May gently pushed him to the living room.

"I just need to talk to my nephew for just a moment, can you please wait here in the kitchen?"

"Take your time, ma'am," Whitley went back to his seat and picked up his fork. "I'll just get back to your great wheat cakes."

Giving the rich Schnee a smile, Jaune's Aunt moved them to the living room, her smile not leaving, and then wrapped her arms around Jaune in a big hug.

"I'm so proud of you~!" She said as she continued to hold Jaune in her arms. "I can't believe what I learned when Mr. Schnee came here."

 _'Yeah, Aunt May,'_ Jaune didn't want to speak put and just wrapped his arms around the kind woman who helped him when he got to Vale. _'Me too._ '

"It was such a surprise to me when I saw someone as important as a Schnee knock on our door. But when he told that your role was to go to Beacon, I was a bit hesitant at first."

"Thanks for your concern." Jaune's hold was a bit tighter now that Aunt May's worry was showing. "Though, I'm sure he told you why, correct?"

"Oh, yes, helping Blake and her team write a paper for the Bugle due to the backlash at what happened with a... what was it called again? A paladin? I don't like on how the public are starting to hate the Huntsmen, even more when it's aimed at kids leaning to become one, so it's really nice to see how you're helping them, Jaune."

Letting go of the blonde teen, the elder Parker walked over to where a certain photograph that had a certain man on it.

"To tell you the truth," She let out a mirthful chuckle. "Oh, it's so silly now that I know what you've really been up to."

He coughed and rubbed the back of his neck, remembering that he eavesdropped on her conversation with one of her friends a while back.

"Now it all makes sense, Mr. Schnee told me why."

"Eh?" He said, confused at why he was hearing.

"After he told me that you'll be at Beacon to help write a story, you're also getting a scholarship! From the Schnee's no less! Told me that you've been taken night classes, leaving you completely drained due to how hard they were."

 _'I'm missing something here,'_ At this point, Jaune was feeling more and more suspicious at who this white-haired guy really was if he lied to his Aunt with that much exposition. _'Got to go talk to him about this. Need to know what's his goal and why go out of his way to meet me here.'_

"Mmm... hmm!" Speaking about said someone, Whitley Schnee walked out of the dining room, an empty plate in his hand, and casually wiped away any crumbs left on his lips with a napkin. "You know, I never tried home cooked meals like this, but then again, I never even hear people say wheat cakes either."

"Mr. Schnee, do you want some more?" Aunt May asked.

"Oh, no thank you. I'm actually just about to leave I just want to talk to Jaune, face to face before I go."

"Of course..." She smiled at Jaune and headed back to the kitchen to make the rest of Breakfast. "I'll take that plate from you, sir. Thank you."

"No. Thank you for your hospitality." Whitely sailed. "If it's ok, Is it alright if Jaune and I can go upstairs? For privacy reasons, of course. Some real hush hush things that the Bugle needs to keep secret until Jaune here makes his first article."

"Be my guest," Aunt May said from the kitchen. "Jaune, take Mr. Schnee upstairs! I'll make sure to have everything ready when you both are done."

"Thanks, Aunt May." Jaune said, leading his guest to his room. "This way, sir."

Leading him to his room, Jaune opened the door for Whitley and as both were now in his personal area with no other person within earshot to listen in on their talk.

"Don't really have to call me that since I'm pretty sure you're older than me." The white-haired teen said as he looked around Jaune room.

"Right, it's just…. I'm pretty sure I didn't apply scholarship. Whatever lies you fed to my Aunt-"

"No, no, no." Whitley cut Jaune off. "Pretty sure it isn't a full lie when I told her you are technically helping my sister's team at Beacon."

Reaching inside of his coat pocket, Whitley threw something at Jaune and continued to speak.

"After all, it seems that my lying helped to make her paranoia of you go away, Spider-Man."

Too stunned to even deny it, Jaune looked at what he caught to see his camera now in his possession.

"Doubled back on where we met, saw this thing on the sidewalk, broken, but had your name etched on the side of it."

 _'Shoot, I knew I forgot something.'_ The blonde eyed his camera and saw the lens cracked. _'Web must have dissolved, looks like I need to find a better camera.'_

Still looking around in Jaune's rooms, Whitley stopped when he was right next to his bed.

"Also, before you go and try to deny my claims," Deciding it was worth a shot, the rich teen looked under the bed to see his second proof of evidence. "I think this speaks for itself on what I'm saying is true."

Taking out the case underneath, the younger teen in the room scoffed at how low security it was and begun to fiddle with it.

"Hey, you know breaking into other people's stuff is illegal." Jaune tried his best to make Whitley stop from revealing his secret.

Not even listening besides the sound of something unlocked, the baron opened the case and pulled out Jaune's original suit.

"Pretty sure vigilantism is also illegal." Toss the costume to Jaune, he saw the blue eyed young man stare back at the large reflective lens of his old costume. "So now that we're all showing the cards in our hand, let me do the same."

Removing his vest, Whitley started to unbutton his shirt to show Jaune what was underneath to be a pitch-black undershirt. Not sure what to make of this, Jaune soon started to see the center of Whitley's chest start to light up into the same shape and color of a certain armored hero he met not too long ago.

"Well, now..." Dropping his old suit on the floor, Jaune went over to his desk and leaned on it to get ready for what happens next. "Looks like both of us has some explaining to do."

"Well," Buttoning up his shirt to hide his reactor core, the young Schnee just shrugged his shoulders. "I don't plan to tell you my entire life, just what's really important. A request, if you will."

"Ok, and what request is that?"

"To accept Obadiah's proposition of course." He told Jaune. "I can tell that you're still on the fence about it."

"I guess this would happen, just didn't think that the one to urge me to take it would be the same guy who helped me fight A.I.M"

"We helped each other," Whitley corrected him. "None of us wouldn't have made it alone, so don't think you owe me. This is your choice whether you want the job or not but let me tell you why I need your help."

"Let me make take a shot in the dark and it's to assume you want to help your sister?"

"No, it's so she doesn't get our father's inheritance and I get to keep all of it."

 _'That's a fast answer!'_ Jaune's eyes widened at how even his posture showed no signs of hesitation.

"I know it sounds like I'm the bad guy here.."

 _'Greedy is the word I was think about, actually.'_

"But my sister Weiss, the next to inherit the SDC, won't last long if she's in charge."

"Kind of seems unfair," Jaune tried to defend Ruby's partner. "I mean, even if she's the oldest, I'm sure she can handle taking care of the SDC. She seems like she has her head on straight to do so."

"Yes, that is true that it does seem unfair," Whitley agreed to that part of Jaune's statement. "However, I think that Weiss can't have one thing and do the other. I mean, if she is the one to inherit the SDC, shouldn't she be at Atlas getting ready rather than be here?"

Thinking hard on it, the blonde stayed silent. Whitley continue to speak.

"Being a Huntress takes full dedication to become, same as running a large empire. She was more hellbent on leaving than staying home, yet, she thinks that when she comes back as a Huntress, she can make things change."

"You don't believe she can do it?"

"Oh, no. In fact, I support her decision." He said truthfully. "However, she doesn't grasp on what is real and what's in her head. The SDC is too large for her to change it, even if she tries to turn our family into a better light so everyone won't hate us. She's just trying to use one thing in hopes it can fix another, but she can't do both and expect it to fix everything."

"And you believe you can fix whatever the problem is?"

"Wow, the way you said it makes me look like I have a huge ego! Though, I do have a big ego."

 _'At least he's not denying it.'_ Jaune thought to himself, mind still processing that this younger teen before him was the cool flying hero he fought alongside with last night. "And how do I help in any of this?"

"Haven't you paid attention? J.J needs someone to understand what students in Beacon do, you're young, you write the paper, and you make people understand the tough life the students had to deal with. Doing so will make my sister's stay more bearable, making my father not be able to get Weiss back to Atlas."

"This still feels a little bit sneaky."

"Jaune," Whitley gave him a flat look. "We both hide behind costumes and fight people, pretty sure that seems to be much worse compared to what I'm saying about my family."

"True enough. But why go through all this?"

"Again, Weiss is a great young woman, but she won't make it work. She's a Huntress first and a business woman second, and the SDC is too big for her to run off now and then to fight Grimm while I, the only one who wants to run the SDC, can make sure it stays-if not, better-when I'm in charge."

Letting out a sigh, the young Schnee looked down at the floor.

"My sisters are hard headed, just like my father. Once they decide on something they won't stop which is why it's better for me to inherit the right, so they can be free of this role and live their life."

"Whitley..." Jaune looked at the young baron, seeing that he really does care for his older siblings' wellbeing rather than just Lien.

"So!" Suddenly shifting the conversation to the original topic, Whitley walked to Jaune and stuck his hand out. "Now you know a bit of why I want to do this. So _please_ , Jaune. Please help my sister's dream come true while at the same time, ruin it."

Looking down at the hand in front of him, Jaune weighed the options of what might happen but still grabbed Whitley's hand and shook it.

"For the record, I'm not saying that I understand what you're going through, but I do know what it feels like to put family first. Alright, I'm on board with this, but I'm not sure I'll like what will happen if Ruby or your sister founds out I kept this from them."

"You tell them the truth that I was the one who planned this, so don't worry. I rather have Weiss hate me than have her broken by all the weight that comes with overseeing a multibillion Lien company and a Huntress who fights monsters."

"Yeah, I think that a good reason for doing this." Now that both heroes agreed, Jaune walked past the rich teen to put back his old costume. "So, aside from all of this, it's really cool that we both know that we're superheroes. I would love to hear about your adventures."

"Maybe next time." Whitley reached in his pocket to get his scroll out. "I told Stane that I would be at Beacon Library, but that was 46 minutes ago, and I don't want to take any chances. You have his scroll number right?"

"I have my boss' number."

"Great, I think that will be much better if you talk to Mr. Jameson than Stane. I don't want them to assume that I made you want to do this, I want this to be as organic as possible that you were the ones to tell them and not me."

"Ok, I'll call him tomorrow to let him know." Putting the case that holds his spider suit under his bead, Jaune walked to his door and opened it. "I'll tell Aunt May that you're leaving, maybe she can give you a ride. Or did you use a limo?"

"No, I used the taxi." Whitley answered, then soon stopped Jaune from opening the door any further. "Only there's one more thing that I need to tell you. One that, in time, will cause a serious fight between kingdoms."

Closing the door, Jaune focused on what else Whitley needs to tell him.

"I care about Weiss being a Huntress, and I also need her to not inherit the SDC. Not just because it will cause more pain for her, but because I need to own the company to solve the major issue Remnant will face if we don't think up of a solution soon."

"And what issue is that, Whitley?" In his mind, Jaune was thinking that it was A.I.M, The White Fang, or Roman's boss that could cause a serious problem to Remnant. But what came out of Whitley's mouth just made those problems small.

"Remnant is running out of Dust."

* * *

 **Hope you guys liked this chapter! Finally, Spider-Man and Iron Man meet both as heroes and as people, I hope you guys liked how they interact. But, most of all, I hope you guys liked how I introduced the Grimm and the fight between Spider-Man.**

 **I thought that Whitley being Iron Man would be a good choice since he is exactly like Iron Man, just how Jaune is like Peter. Only this time, since he has somewhat of the same origin as Tony, he is more sensible and explains why he needs to be in charge of their dad's company. Not just because he's a like a mini version of their dad, but because he's the only choice that can make it possible. Weiss in a Huntress, she will be on missions, and there is even a chance she might die too. It's better for Whitley to take charge since he wants to and even learns to be a good cooperate boss.**

 **As for the dust, that was actually a main problem back in volume 1. When Weiss told Ruby that dust is hard to come by, I thought that they would stick to it. Well, almost everyone uses dust, regular people use dust, even kingdoms uses massive amounts of dust, yet no one takes the matter seriously if one day dust might run out. Which is why I bring it up and why Whitley wants to be in charge of the SDC, he's going to find a way to solve the crisis, it will take time to do so, but since here's more driven in the one job at being the boss of SDC he'll stay focused.**

 **Speaking about Iron Man, good news, there will be a separate story of Iron Man in RWBY! YAY! And guess what? I won't be making it! Instead it will be made by an author: Nacoma23 that messaged me into brainstorming about it. He will make the story about Whitley as Iron Man crusading around Atlas, while I handle Spider-Man in vale, so check his out after December ends!**

 **Anyway, I hope you guys liked this chapter and I hope you guys will enjoy the last month of 2018! Thank you all, for enjoying this story, like, fav, and commenting about my story. I also like to thank my Beta reader for the help making this chapter and all my other chapters great to read. So, thank you, all of you for making this story what it is today!**

* * *

 **(Omake: Christmas Special!)**

* * *

It was that certain time of the year where everyone celebrates by being with loved ones like family, lovers, or friends.

Not for the Amazing Spider-Man, who was currently doing his daily rounds at night on Christmas eve. Said night patrol was spotting a man trying to enter into some kids room in the middle of the night.

"Please, sir." Begged the man who was webbed up on the wall of some random rooftop. "There must be some kind of mistake."

"Sorry, Mr." Spider-Man said as he clung to the wall that was used to hold the man in place. "But breaking and entering is a huge offense, so just wait here until the proper authorities arrive."

"No!" The man wearing red said. "I'm on a deadline! I can't wait until they show up."

"Look, sir." Spider-Man spoke to the man dressed up as a fictional character. "I know you're trying to play the part of giving toys to nice boys and girls, but I think you're playing it a bit too much."

Shooting a webline to another building, Spider-Man jumped into the air and swung to finish the rest of his patrol. "Merry Christmas!"

Taking care of that crazy guy, Spider-Man went off to do his watch over the sleeping city as he watched for anyone deciding to be naughty. Other then that, there is another thing he wanted to do as well, one that was ontop of Spider-Man's list for some time.

"There it is." Landing on top of a building that sells cloths, the wallcrawler looked across the street to see his prize still in stock. "The jewelry store that Aunt May had a certain set of earrings she wanted. I know we're strapped for cash, but maybe this could cheer her up, she's always done so much for others, I think it's time I repay her back."

 _'I saved just enough to afford it, and since it's on sale for the holidays, I'm sure the price is even less than before.'_

Just when he was about to go back to where he left his bag to change over, his spider sense warned him that trouble was nearby.

Looking back down to the streets, Spider-Man could see someone making a break for it from the jewelry store, giving Spider-Man a clear sign that a robbery happened.

"Always at a time like this." Shaking his head, the wallcrawler springed into action and chased after the jewelry thief. "HO! HO! HO!"

Looking over his head, the thief saw the hero making a jovial laugh as he shot a web glob right at the distraught vagabond.

 **(TWIP!)**

Spider-Man's aim was true and the web latched itself onto the man's legs, causing him to fall face first as he lost all movement from his feet.

"Guess the only gift you'll receive won't be just coal," The webhead told the thief as he picked up the small bag of jewels the thief stole from the shop. "But also a few months in jail time."

To make sure that the man would stay and not crawl away from the police, Spider-Man picked him up and webbed him to the light post to make it easier for everyone to see. Just as he was done making a web bow as a sign for the police as a gift from Spider-Man, a man wearing a pristine suit who was drenched in sweat arrived.

"Thank you, Spider-Man." The man that the arachnid hero can only assume was the owner said. "We didn't know that we would get robbed this late, but thanks to you we don't have to worry anymore!"

"No problem," He tossed bag to the owner. "Just wondering, but you guys didn't happen to have a certain set of earring that are on sale, do you?"

Understanding what Spider-Man was asking, the man reached into the bag of trinkets and pulled out a small black box.

"You're lucky," He opened the box to show a pair of diamond encrusted earrings. "A man made several payments to purchase this, but since you just saved my business from losing all of these, I can give you this one and just say that it was never found."

 _'Of course this would be your last one.'_ Looking at it now, Spider-Man could already see that this gift could really make Aunt May happy.

"Don't worry," Spider-Man kindly rejects the offer. "Give it to the true owner and tell him that Spider-Man sends his regards!"

With everything tied up, the wallcrawler left the scene and continued the rest of the patrol with much less enthusiasm.

* * *

"Merry Christmas, Jaune!" Aunt May said with holiday cheer as she handed Juane present that had Santa themed gift wrap.

It was already Christmas morning and both Mrs. Parker and Jaune Arc were enjoying each others' company as both exchanged gifts.

"Thanks, Aunt May." Ripping the present open, Jaune pulled out his gift. "OH, Aunt May! I love it!"

"I'm glad, Jaune, you've always worn something like this all the time, so I thought this would be great for your wardrobe!"

"Yup!" Jaune smiled at the sight of Pumpkin Pete on a bright blue sleeveless shirt. "Hold on I'll get you yours under the tree."

Reaching under their decorated Christmas tree that was displayed at the corner of the living room, Jaune reached under to get his gift for his Aunt.

 _'I got her the next best thing and got her two tickets to a Christmas play that will start in the afternoon, so hopefully these will be ok.'_

Passing over his gift, Jaune soon pulled it out under the tree to give to Aunt May, only it had something attached along with it. "What's this? I only had the one gift for Aunt May."

"Jaune, is something wrong?" She asked him.

"Nothing, um..." Jaune turned around and handed Aunt May her presents. "Here, Aunt Mat. I hope you like these."

Opening them both, the woman of the house gasped at what he gave her.

"Oh, Jaune." She said in awe at the sight of the pristine earrings and tickets to her favorite opera theater. "There wonderful, my boy, you're so sweet!"

Reaching over to give him a hug, Jaune did the same and enjoyed his second gave his Aunt just gave him.

Her happiness.

"These tickets says they'll start in just a few hours, I need to get ready!" Going upstairs to change into something fancy, Jaune chuckled as he saw his Aunt disappear as she left to go to her room. "I'll call some of my friends to see if one of the wants to go too!"

"You do that, Aunt May!" He said while he picked up the trashed wrapping paper.

But, as he did so, the corner of his eye spotted something sticking out of the tree. "There's another gift under the tree?"

Taking the gift from under the tree, Jaune could see that it was a somewhat large box with Spider-Man themed gift wrap.

"Is this from Aunt May?" Jaune checked to see if their was a name of who this was from, but the only name it had was his own. "If this is for me, I wonder what's inside?"

Feeling curious, Jaune unwrapped the wrapping paper and lifted the top off to see what was for him.

 **(FWOOSH!)**

"Woah!" Out of nowhere, Jaune's vision was blocked when more wrapping paper came out of the box and wrapped itself all over the secret hero. "Oompf!"

Landing on his back, Jaune's partially covered eyes could see that he was completely wrapped from head to toe in Christmas gist wrap and decorations.

"Ow!" Another added insult to injury was when a small black object landed on Jaune's head, causing him to wince at the small migraine.

Opening his eyes again, he could see that whatever hit him has now landed on his chest giving him a clear site of what the object was.

"Coal?" Jaune said in confusion. Moving his head slightly to see the box that contained all this, Jaune could see the inside of the box given to him with a written message in it.

"Now you know what if feels like." Jaune read the message out loud. "Santa."

Once he was done reading it, Jaune simply broke free from his entrapment, got up, and looked at the mess he now has to clean up. Deciding the first thing to do was use the box that held all of this extra holiday stuff, he picked up the empty cardboard box and stopped when he eyes saw something still left inside.

"A sleigh bell?" Reaching into the box, Jaune placed the bell to his ear, shook it, and heard the most amazing sound coming from it. Sure, other sleigh bells produce the same noise, but Jaune felt that this one was more enchanting, like it was far more special than it seemed.

"Uh..." Putting the bell away in his pocket, Janue's ears was still hearing the same ringing coming from outside. Looking the window from the front side of the living room, the young spider looked up to see snow falling down on Vale, but when squinting he could've sworn he saw something else in the sky. "Well, that was something."

Turning away from the window, his sights soon looked at where a line of photographs were placed on a bookshelf, one photo having someone that holds a special place in both Jaune and Aunt May's house.

Having an idea, the young teen pulled out the bell from his pocket, walked to where the photograph that had a man who was once here in this house, and placed the bell right next to it.

"Merry Christmas," A lone tear trailed down from the young Arc's face. "Uncle Ben."


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27 Inside Look**

"You know, you could always back out now. There's no shame in admitting defeat."

' _Inhale.'_ Jaune expanded his lungs to eat as much oxygen as it can.

"Are you kidding me? This is an opportunity to see what it's like over there! He can't just back out when he's almost there."

' _Exhale.'_ Jaune slowly let's go of all the wind out of his body that also carried away most of his anxiety.

"He can back out now, Gwen, we're literally still in front of the school!" Harry exclaimed as the three friends were standing outside of their education center.

"I do kind of find it weird that he's been doing the breathing exercises when we're not even taking flight to get there." Gwen pondered as she looked up in the sky to see Bullheads flying to where Jaune was hesitant to go for his first day as a reporter.

It's been over four days since the agreement, yet when the week started Jaune was getting more and more nervous as the hours ticked by. After school ended, Harry knew that his blonde friend would get nervous, so as a pillar of strength, he urged Jaune to face his problem by asking his father for a ride to drive to Beacon.

While they waited for Harry's father to arrive, Gwen spotted them and was curious as to what the two were doing. So, she asked them what their plan was and decided to come along without even asking.

"Shouldn't you be at your job right now, Gwen?" Harry asked her. "Not to sound rude, but I'm not sure having more people in the car will help Jaune with his anxiety."

To prove his point, Jaune took several deeper breaths as he stared at the large looking clock tower that housed thousands of heavily armed teens.

"Meh, no problem." She shrugged her shoulders. "Doc Conner messaged me and said that I don't need to come by the lab today, which means I can come along!"

Pinching the bridge of his nose, the young Osborn let out a sigh and looked bat at their third member.

"You at least know that Jaune has a reason to act like this right?"

"Of course! He told us in confidence remember? Which makes it mportant for me and you to be there as he confronts the place that rejected him! Lord knows I had my fair share of places that rejected me when I tried to apply to them."

About to make a comment on Gwen's last remark, Harry was stopped when a familiar black limo drove into the school's front driveway.

"Looks like my dad isn't here." The rich teen said.

"How can you tell?"

Soon as it parked, the driver got out of the car, walked to the end of the limo, and opened the door to invite the young master and guests.

"Because usually my dad opens the door. When he's in a good mood at least." He answered as he was the first to go inside.

"Oooh!" Gwen tugged Jaune's right arm to follow her inside. "Luxury~! You know, I feel like this is the first time I rode with you guys in such a snazzy car."

"That's because it is your first time here, Gwen." Harry gave her a flat look. "Every time we walk out of school, we usually see you heading out by yourself to either find a job or go to your summer camp job."

"In my defense," Gwen put her open palms in front of her. "The quarter master does need help, a lot of help actually, and not just around the camp either. Also, most of the time when I said about applying for another job, some of that was a lie to make me feel better since I usually get rejected by them."

"…. How did you get a job at being a lab assistant again?" He asked, worried that the good doctor might have picked someone out of pity then actual credentials.

"Hey, don't forget I'm one of the smartest chicks in school!" Gwen argued. "It's just really hard to get to the college I want to enroll in without a proper revenue. I thought working as a camp counselor for a short time would be enough, yet I still have the job."

"So, shouldn't you be at said camp?"

"It's a summer camp, ya' dingus," She stuck her tongue out. "Besides that, the camp is closed due to some weird activity involving the Grimm."

If both teens paid attention to the only Blonde in the car, they would have noticed Jaune flinching when he heard about Gwen's first job involving the monsters he had fought in the forest while helping Iron Man.

"For once, I was surprised when the owner of the camp came down and told us about it, then I realized why he did it since it saved him more Lien to close the camp rather than hire Huntsmen to protect the campers."

"Wait, wait, wait! Your camp is outside the perimeter? Isn't that dangerous?"

"Well, it isn't really camping when your near civilization, Harry. Plus, Mr. Campbell didn't really think a head about where he wanted to put it. Either way, if it means I get away from those kids for a while, then I'm ok with it!"

"Don't you mean fired?" Finally, after hearing the outrageous story about Gwen's camp being closed, Jaune was calm enough to ask his question.

"No," She chuckled. "Believe me, I fantasize the day when that place closes down, but it's only shut down until huntsmen or other hired goons show up to kill any Grimm that's near."

"Thought you said he's cheap and didn't want to pay for any hired muscle?"

"I did, Jaune, but that doesn't mean other people aren't! Since the camp is still relatively near the city, the council or some other concerned citizens pay up. Leaving Mr. Campbell with extra lien to put in his safe or wallet."

"Well, I got to say one thing about him. He sure knows how to make others pay for fixing problems, and that's coming from a son whose dad oversees a multimillion lien company." Harry said with some respect for Gwen's cheap skate of a boss. "But, on a serious note, did you get any news on why there was more Grimm coming through your camp?"

"Not much, the only thing I know was that they never really came that close before. Now that I think about it, I heard that for a couple of days, Grimm was rarely seen in some parts of the Emerald forest, yet now there seems to be a huge increase."

"It does seem odd that they would increase in numbers so suddenly." The young Osborn agreed to how strange these past few days were. "Maybe they migrated or something."

"Yeah, I guess it'll just remain a mystery." The blonde spider told his friends. "Maybe the Grimm sensed negativity from the camp?"

"So basically, they were tracking Gwen?" Said Harry, who got a punch in the shoulder from the tanned skinned girl.

"Ha, ha! Very funny." She crossed her arms. "And just for the record, if what you said was true, then that camp should have been invaded by the Grimm every single day. Cause I swear, I'm not the only one hating that place!"

Laughing at what Gwen said about her job at camp, the young teens soon started to change the subject and simply talked about things they thought were interesting to pass the time.

' _Man,'_ Jaune soon started to retreat in his mind as both friends started to talk to each other leaving Jaune time to think. _'It's really scary how much ground they can cover. I hope whoever was hired can handle them. I think I rather be out there then going to Beac- No, no, no! Don't think like that, you promised yourself that you can do this!'_

Using his hands to pinch his cheeks, Jaune went over how today will play out.

' _Aunt May knows and I can't lie to her, other than the major fact that Im currently paty of the whole superhero thing, but this is a good opportunity to get more lien! Not just that either, but I also agreed to do this to help Whitley.'_

Remembering the man behind the Iron Man, Jaune couldn't help but remember Whitley's words when he visited his house.

* * *

[Four Days Ago]

"Your joking." Came out of Jaune's mouth as soon as he heard Whitley say that Remnant will be running out of dust.

"Ok, I wasn't expecting that as your reply, but fine."

"Are you saying that dust, out main natural resource, will no longer exist?" Jaune asked him, trying to wrap his head around something that sounds ridiculous to believe. "Cause if so, then Aunt May and I need to stock up on dust! Who knows, it could be like that movie where everyone wears leather with metal spikes that drives cars with guitar players that shoot fire out of their instruments!"

A thought that came to Jaune's head made him gasp in shock!

"Oh no!" He said in fear. "I could be those guys who plays a guitar that shoots fire! …Actually, that sounds pretty metal."

"No, stop talking," Whitley waved his hands in front of Jaune to shut him up. "I had enough time with one person with a motor mouth, I don't need another. But, to make it easier on your little survival plans, you don't need to worry since dust won't run out in your life time."

"Oh, thank good- wait a minute." Jaune's happy moment was stopped within a second of realizing what Whitley said. "What do you mean 'my lifetime'?"

"Exactly what I mean, Jaune. Dust is running out, but you'll live long enough, or short depending how long the whole hero thing takes you, to still have dust in your life. However, it's the next generation or so that will start seeing a rapid decline in dust resources."

"But, you run the SDC!" He pointed out to the young baron.

"My father runs it; my siblings and I just ride on his coat tails."

"Can't you just, do cooperate stuff and refine more? Heck, can't you guys find more dust veins?" Jaune asked, wondering how this problem hasn't been addressed already to the public.

"My family is rich, but lien can't fix all your problems. At least I thought it could back then" Whitley muttered that last sentence to himself.

"Any way, Jaune. We can't just find more dust veins since the farther we go, the farther we're away from civilization, leading to a higher chance of being overrun by Grimm."

"Another thing," The white-haired boy slammed his fist into his other opened hand. "I'm sure your already aware of the SDC and their somewhat harsh working rules with Dust veins, correct? I mean, the Schnee's are one of the most hated individuals of the White Fang for that reason."

"Oh right, right, right." The blonde winched when he didn't think a head of what he was asking from Whitley. "So, you're still planning to oversee the SDC and not your sister, I get that part, so is your next part trying to conserve dust or are you planning to try and get ready for the upcoming unrest when the whole dust shortage thing happens?"

"Not really, no." Whitley tapped his finger on the center of where his chest piece was. "You remember when I opened that case those A.I.M drones tried their best to get?"

"how can I not? You were blaring rock music while taking them down," Jaune's foot instinctively started to tap to the imaginary beat his mind was projecting. "Got to say, for super hero entrances, you take the price."

"Thank you," Whitley bowed his head at the complement. "My friends are in to music and they gave me the idea. I was never really a fan of music per se, it's hard to when you sister is a singer that has lyrics that makes you so sad that you want to end your life, but I digress!"

"You see, Jaune, what is imbedded in my chest is also the key to helping me make the biggest break though of all time. A new, environmentally safe, infinite source of energy!"

"Is that why you destroyed the blueprints of that suit case? It had the instructions to make what you have in your chest?" Jaune deduced, putting two and two together to see how it all makes sense.

"Oh, no, they didn't have the blueprints to make something like this" He tapped his finger on his chest again.

"Ok, then," Jaune looked down, his deduction no longer seeming that smart anymore. "But, they at least have some why of making something that has the same properties of what you have, right?"

"They do, no _did_ have them once, though The Maggia have some reach within the working class, Scientific expertise is not one of them. Those plans would never really work in a large scale, but A.I.M takes any chances if it involves technology that can advance in their plans for controlling Atlas or even Remnant itself."

Thinking about so many new information, made the web head rub his forehead.

"And if the Maggia and A.I.M are trying their own luck in making a brand-new form of energy, you plan to do the same with the help of your inheritance?"

"Mine is a more legal compered to them, plus I rather have it within an already profitable business rather than make it from square one. I know dust is our main income, but soon I'll make a new source of energy that can out pace dust!"

"Seriously, did I forget to mention that all of this is way too much for a guy who just clings on to walls?" Jaunes said truthfully.

It was supposed to be just him dealing with Roman stealing things and whoever was helping the White Fang from working alongside the bowler hat thief. Now, here's Iron Man, who revealed to be not even a man but a boy younger then even Jaune, telling him of some more scary gangs trying their best to beat others in to what appears to be some energy crisis war!

"Will the Maggia and A.I.M still be here? Cause I'm already dealing with roman stealing dust including the White Fang!"

"The Maggia will probably linger, I'm afraid. They have their hands on almost every union within the kingdoms, so it's going to be hard to get rid of them when their almost everywhere within plain site. As for A.I.M well, there not in to the whole worker class schtick, plus their more cautious now that both of us crashed their plan at the forest." The youngest Schnee explained.

' _Funny, I understand they want to be in the forest to hide, but why the extra stuff with Grimm and digging in the ground.?'_

With remembering about the man-made tunnel, Jaune decided it was the best time to ask Whitley to see if he has any ideas since A.I.M is in Whitley's kingdom.

"Other than the Maggia."

' _Which will probably be my problem now.'_

"Do you still wonder why A.I.M was focused on digging under Vale? The plans for a new energy and them capturing Grimm aside, what bugs me is that we have no clue as to why they did it."

Whitley pondered that though too and when he was about to speak his theory behind it, his scroll started to ring. Pulling it out of his pocket, he checked what was on his scroll and then placed it back.

"I need to head back, that was my timer going off, meaning I can't stay any longer. I'm sorry, Jaune, really I am, A.I.M and the Maggia are my responsibility and now that there here, my problems just became your problems too."

' _Yaaay! More responsibility!'_ Jaune's mind immediately made up an image of A.I.M joining Roman and the White Fang in the pursuit of killing Spider-Man. "Can you still help me in some way?"

"I'm not staying for long, Jaune." Deciding to walk around some more in Jaune's room, Whitley was about to look back to the other person in the room but stopped when his nose picked up on something.

"Since Stane just wanted to help Weiss by getting a guy like you to write a paper about young Huntsmen, then there would be no other reason to stay now that your hired." Following his nose, Whitley stopped in front of what he can assume is Jaune's closet and opened it.

"But don't worry, I'll give you my number, just in case you need any he- Fwooo! That smells!" Pinching his nose, the rich teen used his other hand to fish out whatever was causing such fowl rank.

"What the," Pulling out the smelly garment, Whitley was greeted to the sight of another of Jaune's spider costume, only to see it far worse for wear that included some very questionable stains. "Is this your costume?"

Biting his lower lip and sucking in air, Jaune looked away from the sorry sight of his suit but nodded his head to confirm Whitley's question.

"That was going to be my last new suit, the one you found was ruined because of Flint Marko," To this day, Jaune still gets defensive whenever he's near a sandbox. "And before you ask, the one you saw me wear was made up from my Uncle's old war gear."

Looking at the design of Jaune's old suit, then back at Jaune, the young genius looked between the two before tossing the gross suit back to where it came from.

"Well," Whitley wiped his hand on Jaune's bed sheets. "I don't want to hold up any more of your time, Jaune. I'll be going now, but remember about calling your boss about the job, I won't be there in person since I'll be leaving by the time you go to Beacon after school, so good luck!"

"I geuss that's it for now," jaune opened the door to let his guest out. "It's just got really complicated for me, Whitley. You must know there has been lots of dust being stolen by Roman and the White Fang isn't helping either since there now trying to get more weapons. Weapons, I might add, that they buy off A.I.M."

"Yes, it does sound very challenging, but A.I.M won't be a problem for now, we sent them packing. Though, I'm sure they'll come back, and when that happens just call and I'll do my best to come back here as fast as I can!"

"Won't people in Atlas notice that you'll be gone at the same time Iron Man is?" Jaune asked as the two boys descended from the stairs.

"What? A rich, young bachelor, off to wherever their parents allow them too will make people raise eyebrows? You forget, Jaune, that people don't really get suspicions of rich people, because we can afford to go to faraway places no middles class or lower class citizens can."

' _He's not wrong there. As painful as it is true.'_

Walking to the front door, Jaune and Whitley walked past the kitchen and stopped at the front door.

"Aunt May!" Jaune raised his voice for his aunt to hear him. "Mr. Schnee-"

"Just call me Whitley." The rich young man whispered.

"Can't stay any longer, he needs to go back!"

"Ok, dear!" She replied from the kitchen. "Are you also coming with him?"

"No, Aunt May, I'm just walking him out." Opening the front door, Jaune motioned the guest to walk out first.

"I got to say, Whitley," Jaune walked out of his house and felt the morning sun shine down on his face. "It feels nice to have someone I know about my double life. Makes me feel like I'm not alone in doing what I think is right."

' _Also, it makes me feel less crazy and insecure about me wearing a full spandex suit in public.'_

"Trust me, Jaune, you're not alone in what you're doing." The pale skinned teen looked up to the endless sky with a thousand-yard stare. "People, regular people like you and me, are just a small percentage compared to the rest of Remnant. But, I can tell, within time, more people that share the same ideals will start coming out of the shadows."

"How can you tell?"

"I'm what some people call, a futurist, someone who thinks about the tomorrow rather than the now." Whitley explained.

"Only," Jaune explained it in his own words. "It's like the tomorrow part is far, far away kind of tomorrow, right?"

"Something like that, yeah." Sucking in large amounts of air, Whitley held it all in then blew it all out, like he was letting out all his thoughts regarding heroes. "I can already see it now, Jaune. They might think we're just some form of crazy, thrill seekers or some other unsavory things they like to label us with, but it's all going to change."

Looking it at this in Whitley's perspective, it did seem like a good idea. Though Huntsmen and the military are the four kingdom's main branches of defense against Grimm, it wouldn't hurt if there are people that are just like him and Whitley.

' _And who knows, maybe there might be people who have the same predicament as me? If so, then maybe they're scared to open up to the public about their amazing and strange abilities.'_

Jaune really can't blame them if they decide to just hide in plain sight, he would do the same too. He isn't like Huntsmen or Faunus, he has no aura and he was born human, so it wouldn't surprise him if the government would use his body to see what makes him the way he is.

' _Is there really a chance though?'_ Jaune followed Whitley's lead and looked at the sky.

' _Out of everyone in that building, I was the one to get bitten by that spider. Maybe there are other people that had the same thing happened to them? I guess I kind of won the lottery with all the neat stuff I got from that day, but that can't be said about some other people who never asked for such responsibility.'_

Moving his head down from the sky and back to the ground, Jaune looked at Whitley who was still talking.

"Me, running the SDC, making a cleaner, better, and more effect renewable energy that can actually make more jobs for the better, and you paving the way for others to contribute in their own way to society." The rich teen told Jaune his ideal outcome.

"That sounds all well and good, but if what you say is true, then won't there be less Huntsmen when Remnant decides to rely on heroes who help people for free? After all, even though Huntsmen are superior to average everyday joes, they still need lien to eat. Won't that just make some problems along the way?"

' _I don't want that to happen to Ruby. She seems so happy talking about being close to fulfilling her dream of becoming a Huntress. I don't want her goal to be cut short so soon!'_

"Huntsmen will still be around, Remnants a big place after all, they'll just be more proactive helping the villages outside the walls of the kingdoms. You seem to be more better fighting in an urban environment, so I'm sure it would be no problem for other heroes to help clean up the streets the same way."

"Guess you really did think about what's the come."

"It's just a possibility in my head, but I assure you that change is just around the corner and that change is for the better." Head out of the clouds, Whitley reached inside his pocket, pulled out his scroll, and turned to Jaune.

"Here, just give me your number so we can contact each other."

Nodding his head, Jaune and Whitley gave their numbers to each other and tested them to make sure it works.

"I don't think my service can cover such a long-distance call. My parents didn't cut me off their family plan, so I don't want them to be charged more in their next scroll bill."

"Don't worry, the amount you're getting paid to help my sister and her friends should make you enough to have your own scroll plan. Just make sure you call your boss and be at beacon to help my sister. Good luck, jaune, I'm sure seeing what it's like on their side will make it easier for you to write your first ever article."

"Pretty sure sure it'll go through several re-writes from my boss as well as Mr. Stain, right?"

"Heh, heh, heh," Whitley placed a hand on Jaune's shoulder. "Looks like your already learned the first thing about journalism. Everything you write will be changed by those above you, no matter how much you hate it."

' _That doesn't fill me with confidence.'_

* * *

[Present Time]

No longer having anything else to say, both teens split off to where there needed for the rest of the day. Jaune did as he was promised and called his boss for agreeing to visit Beacon academy leading to right now.

Inside the limo with his two best friends who were oddly quiet for some reason as both were looking outside the window.

' _Guess I know we're already here.'_

Not wanting to be the only one sitting, the only blonde in the group looked out his side of the window to see Beacon up-close.

"Holy crap, you guys." Gwen's moth was slightly open in awe at the structure. "I always see this place far away but looking at it so closely really makes me feel tiny!"

"Man, this place sure knows how to keep the place tidy too!" Harry eyed the freshly cut grass and healthy trees scattered throughout the academy. "We haven't even got inside the security gate inside to see the rest yet!"

"I'm honestly surprised you never go inside Beacon, Harry." Jaune said to his friend. "I always thought your dad would bring you here sometimes. You know, like for formal parties, or some business meetings he wants you to be in when you take over."

"Are you kidding me, Jaune?" The Osborn's face soured, like he was sucking on a lemon. "My dad doesn't really bring me along for stuff like this. He mostly just makes me hang around his office at home, but I never once saw him ever go to Beacon. I never know why, I thought it would be good to have Beacon and my dad work together, but he just doesn't seem to like the headmaster for some reason."

"Did you ever meet him?" Gwen's eyes looked up to the tall clocktower. "Beacon's headmaster I mean?"

"Once, after that I never saw him." Harry told Gwen. "I saw Beacon's headmaster talking to my dad in his computer screen, both seemed to hate one another, but they still kept a professional attitude as they talked about making a deal with some dust for the school."

"Oh! Speaking about dust, don't tell anyone else about this, but my dad will be security for the up and coming Vytal festival!" Gwen pulled back her head inside the car and faced the other two teens in the car.

"How did my dad and the headmaster talking about dust lead to you talking about your dad, Gwen?"

"Because he'll be part of security, that's why!" She said with excitement. "I can't wait when it starts! Almost everyone in Remnant will be here!"

"Too bad for me," The limos started to slow down as it was reaching its destination. "I won't be writing anything about the festival, nor do I care really. I just want to meet with Ruby and her friends, that's all I'm hoping for today."

' _I don't need to worry about any fighting, Grimm, or any other hazardous things. Just me, talking to Ruby and her friends about what it's like in Beacon, that can't be a sign for anything dangerous.'_

Car finally stopping, Jaune was the first to leave the car and stood in front of where he was on the first day entering the academy. Only this time it wasn't the first day for new students entering this esteemed school, so there weren't many people coming inside the academy, yet it still held a firm grip in Jaune's heart as he felt the sense of déjà vu envelope him.

"I know I didn't say this from the beginning you guys, but thanks for coming with me to Beacon."

"Hey, no problem, Jaune, we're glad to help." Harry was about to say more, but he heard his scroll ringing, making him move his focus on answering it.

"I can totally relate to your plight, Jaune. Take it from a girl who gets rejected by every possible job I get, no matter how many rejections you recive, you just got to keep moving forward."

"Thanks for the advice, Gwen" Jaune smiled. "I just wished you guys can come with me, but you have to be on behalf of some company or have someone you know who attends here to be allowed to enter. Don't worry, I'll make sure to tell you guys tomorrow at school."

"Glad to help, man, cause my dad just called, and I need to get home now." Harry said to Jaune with a frown on his face. "Wish we can talk some more, sorry pal. I'll drop you off at your home, Gwen."

"Can we stop if we see a fast food joint?" She asked as she rolled up the window.

"Maybe, but no promises." Harry said as his family limo drove off, leaving the blonde hero all alone.

With his friends now gone, Jaune looked back at Beacon and started to walk. Jaune doesn't deny that he was nervous. The only thing he remembered was the guards outside this gate telling him he wasn't welcomed in.

Thankfully enough, it seemed that the guards posted outside were different people, giving Jaune some relief that he doesn't have to deal with the same people again.

"I'm Jaune Arc," The newly appointed reporter flashed his ID to show proof of identity. "I work for the Bugle and was told to be here."

Looking at the teen, the one on Jaune's right pressed a button on his ear piece and when he was done talking to whoever was on the other line gave his partner a nod.

"The staff confirmed you'd be here, Mr. Arc," The guard on Jaune's left said to him. "You may enter inside, but be warned, if you are caught in any areas that are restricted to only senior students and staff, you will be kicked out of the academy, is that clear?"

"Yes, sir." Jaune nodded, not feeling up to cracking a joke right now. "Can I get any directions on where I can go to the student's dorm rooms?"

"There is a pavilion in the main lobby, just head straight forward though the main walkway and you won't miss it." Was the only answer Jaune got before both men opened the gates to allow Jaune entry to the school he once applied to.

' _This is it,'_ Jaune's saw everything around him in slow motion as the gates were being opened. _'Man, I feel like that kid going inside some candy factory. Only problem is that I don't have some old guy watching over me.'_

Not wanting the guards to think he was an idiot for standing in one spot for so long, Jaune stepped forward and entered Beacon academy for the first time.

"I did it," A smile was forming on his face. "I'm in Beacon, like, actually inside Beacon and it's even more bigger than I thought."

Moving his head to look around his surroundings, the secret hero saw lush green grass that was freshly cut, beautiful structures that make this place look like a castle, and what made more stunning was that Jaune didn't see any trash left on the floor.

"It's like a School sent from heaven," He said as he compared Beacon to his normal high school. "Mid-Town High got nothing on Beacon! The air is clean, the plants are healthy, and not a single piece of trash can be found! Heck, I'm surprised I didn't step on a piece of gum yet!"

' _It really does look as everything I thought it can be,'_ That thought immediately killed Jaune's mood. _'Everything I thought it can be, only I'm not in it.'_

No longer smiling, Jaune went back to what he was doing and headed straight to where the nearest pavilion is.

"Don't get comfortable, Jaune," He talked to himself. "You're here to talk with Ruby, her team, write a paper about it, and after that's done then you can leave this place."

Jaune doesn't admit it, but it was becoming a problem for him always looking at Beacon's clocktower whenever he's outside. His friends and Aunt notice this too, but they usually don't call him out on it unless they needed to.

That's why, adding another reason to be here, Jaune promised himself that as he spends his time at Beacon he will do his best to get over his regret. If he just plays his part and helps Ruby's team while being in Beacon, maybe he'll get over his loss of not attending a huntsmen academy.

"Ok, the guy out said the use the main walk way," Jaune looked under his feet to see that he was in said path. "Check. Now, just walk forward and enter the first building and I'll see the pavilion to where I need to go."

Doing as instructed, jaune followed along the path and reached the main structure that was the entrance to the large clocktower.

"Makes me feel really insignificant up close." He said as he looked up to see just how big it was from such a close look. "Just need to open this and-"

Without rhyme or reason, but pure reflex with the added help of spider sense, Jaune opened the front door to the main hall and left it open for a large group of people to exit through.

The group that was pushing and shoving their way out wasn't students of Beacon, but reporters just like Jaune who work with different news teams.

"Holy smokes!" He said as he was pressed between the door and the wall as reporters kept pouring out of the clock tower. "All these people are here in Beacon!? Are they here for Ruby and her team, I thought I was the only one doing an interview?"

' _Maybe there is another event? Or maybe it was something entirely different? Must be really important if they all jammed inside there.'_

Waiting for the herd of people to leave, the blonde teen started to see that less and less were starting to leave, signaling Juane to finally enter inside.

"Man, this place really puts normal schools to shame both outside and inside." Jaune said in wonder as he saw just how immaculate the interior of the school was. "This place is something you see in those foreign comics my younger sisters read. I wonder if they'll get jealous if I decide to take pictures of this place and show it to them?"

' _Focus, Jaune, you can't get distracted again just because they crank the cleanliness up to 11!'_

"Pavilion, pavilion," Jaune roamed around the main lobby to look for the map of the area, yet he didn't see anything related to the directions given to him by the gate guards. "This is not how I thought I would start today. Does this mean I have to ask people who work here for directions?"

' _Will they think I'm just another face from that group of reporters that passed by earlier? I hope not, I just want to find where they house the students.'_

"Oh, now that I think about it," Taking out his scroll from his pocket, Jaune searched through his contacts and saw that he has Blake's number. "I'm an idiot, I could just call them!"

Using his thumb to press on the cat Faunus's number, Jaune stayed quiet as he waited for Blake to answer.

' _Now that I think about it,'_ Jaune moved the scroll away from his ear and looked at the number that belonged to Blake. _'I only have Aunt May, Gwen, Harry, and my family's number on my scroll. As sad as it is, it kind of feels nice to have another number added to my contact list. Actually, two new added numbers, Blake and Ruby, so I'm happy with the fact that I have their numbers too.'_

"Hello?" From the other end of Jaune's scroll, a familiar voice spoke out of the receiver. "Jaune?"

"Blake, I'm at Beacon academy, but I'm lost." He looked around the hall he was in as he walked while talking to the cat faunus. "I'm trying to find your dorm room, are you there or somewhere else?"

"We're heading our way to our room now, but where I you specifically?" Blake asked.

"I'm at, well, what I assume is the main building people walk in to, I think." Jaune scratched his head, not sure if what he said would make sense to Blake. "Look, all I know is that I saw a bunch of people who work at different news crews walk out of here. I'm lucky that I wasn't trampled by them."

"Group of news crews?" Pondering on what Jaune gave her, the blonde hero waited for a reply from Blake. "Looks like you just entered the place where we started our initiation, Jaune. We're already at our room, but we have some friends that are still there who loves close to us."

"You think I can ask if I can join them?"

"I don't think it'll hurt if you do. We always hang around them, so they already know why you're here."

"Does that mean they know about you guy's, um, dangerous adventures?" He had to ask her, Jaune was already paranoid about them sticking to nose in such dangerous places, he was honestly afraid the next time Blake's team might invite more students from Beacon to join.

"They know about Roman working with the White Fang, but I keep the information about you working with Spider-Man a secret all to myself." She eased his worried mind.

"How come I never heard about them?" He asked, looking through class rooms that had small windows building their doors. "I remember Sun joining you on your last escapade with the Fang, but I never saw them join in."

"I'm glad they didn't," She said truthfully. "If we decided to call them for backup, I'm sure it would have made things worse. There good friends, very loyal and trustworthy, but they have their own problems to deal with and we didn't want it to be worse for them."

"That ship sailed off and entered no man's land a long time ago now that I'm here to help you guys." Jaune told her in a flat tone of voice, not even hiding his sass to the young huntress.

"I suppose so," She chuckled at how blunt Jaune was being. "Either way, I'll message them to meet you in the front, you just make your way and wait for them."

"Sound like a sound plan, I'll see you guys soon." Hanging up his scroll, Jaune turned around and went back to where he entered. "Dang it! I forgot to ask her what they look like. Oh well, I'm sure I'll spot them, almost everyone in this place has some weird hair style or some unique color pallet to stand out."

Returning to where he entered, Jaune waited outside for Blake's friends to meet up with him. He was the only one outside, so he assumed that they must still be in class doing some extra work or somewhere else that is nearby.

"I wonder what others type of friends Ruby has here?" To pass the time, Jaune starts to think about who he might meet other than team RWBY. "Hopefully there ok talking to me. I maybe a reporter for the Bugle, but I'm not like those vultures they see here."

' _I hope they don't see me while I talk to myself… wait, this sentence should be the part where they see me talking to myself, not my previous one!'_

Hands in his pocket and looking down on the ground, Jaune was just minding his business when his spider sense started to go off!

' _Danger! Here?!'_ Not even nervous if someone seeing Jaune in his usual defensive stance when dressed as Spider-Man, the blonde teen moved his eyes to scan for anything out of the ordinary. _'I know this is where teens are trained to fight Grimm, but I'm pretty sure the staff doesn't condone any acts of violence. But if they did and violence is part of their criteria, then I'll just add that to the list of things I'm_ glad _I'm not a part of.'_

"Don't see any life threating events outside," Jaune moved his sights on the front door leading inside. "Guess something bad is happening inside, I got to find out why."

Reaching for the handle, the young reporter opened the door to enter, but stopped when something silver rolled out of the school.

Looking under his feet, what greeted the young spider was a cylinder that had a pink heart on it.

"Oh," Jaune's spider sense dialed its alert to 12. "I guess I found out what's dangerous."

 _ **(POW!)**_

Like a sound of a large firework going off, what soon followed a pink cloud that engulfed the secret hero before he was knocked on his feet when the canister finally popped.

"Oof!" Landing on his butt, the Arc shook his head to try to clear the double vision the small explosion caused him.

"Come on~" Jaune grumbled as he clutched his ears to stop the ringing. "It's way too early for me to get a face full of explosives."

Just when he can finally hear, Jaune's ears started to pick up one people's voices close by.

"I think you put too much dust in your grenade, Nora." Said a voice that Jaune can distinctly point out to be a male.

"It means it works, Ren!" Said a second person that was from a female. "I did make it to distract those annoying paparazzi."

"They left before we did." The man that was identified as Ren told Nora in a dry reply. "Also, I think you should apologize to him, I think this is the one Blake messaged us about helping them today."

' _Of course, these are the type of friends Blake would associate with.'_ Jaune thought bitterly at the two new acquaintances before him. _'I shouldn't think like that about these guys. If Blake thinks of them as friends, then they must have great qualities behind them to earn her trust.'_

"You know," The one named Nora started to hum. "I'm actually surprised he's still conscious if I'm being honest. Usually, the photographers would start screaming and running, but he's seems perfectly fine, so that's pretty neat."

' _Then again, Blake really doesn't have a good track record of having friends in Beacon that are responsible.'_

As Jaune was about to say something to the two who caused him to land on his rear end, a hand appeared in front of his face to show that someone was trying to help him up.

"Sorry for my friend and her interest in, um… introductions. She didn't mean it really, she's just very protective of her friends is all." A new voice told the young Arc as his blue eyes started to see straight and looked directly at a set of emerald eyes.

Seeing as it was rude to leave a kind gesturing hanging, the young hero accepted the help and was soon back on his feet. Brushing of some of the dirt and smoke of his clothes, Jaune looked back at the trio who made quite the introduction for his first day visiting Beacon.

The only male in the group, Ren he recalled, was a boy with a slender build and magenta eyes that complemented well with the same single-color highlight on his pure black hair. Add what Ren was wearing, something that looked like one of those outfits martial artists wear in those old Kung Fu movies Jaune watched when he was a kid, made the young spider see Ren was from a different culture.

"I'm sure this isn't the type of welcome you'd expect coming to Beacon." Ren gave a concerned look at the reporter. "We're not usually like this, but we sometimes need to when we get flooded with people trying to interview us."

' _Interview them?'_ What Ren said to Jaune made the boy look between the three young Huntsmen. _'They look pretty normal to me. Well actually, they look above average compared to me, the popular kids in my school, and practically every normal person living in Vale. Do these guys have to have experience working as models or actors cause seriously, everyone I know who goes here looks like a 10 out of 10!'_

"Yeah, they really don't know about personal space!" Said the girl who admitted that she caused the accident as she wrapped an arm around Ren who looked uncomfortable by her sudden closeness. "People nowadays don't know when other just want some space!"

"I see," He nodded his head, not even questioning the girl with ginger hair, wearing an all pink shirt and bomber jacket. She looked like someone who would participate in roller derbies, especially with a hyperactive attitude that even sugar can't compete with. "I'm a bit put off on them too. Though, I never knew they were here involving you three, I mostly assumed they were trying to talk to Blake and her team."

"Oh?" The last one, the girl who helped Jaune up gave him a look of surprise. "You thought they were here to talk to them?"

Moving his sights to the last person, Jaune's first thought of her was that she must have left some action movie due to what she was wearing.

Both Nora and Ren may have some cool color designed clothes that go well with their looks, but this girl seemed to blend battle and fashion like it was the same thing.

Armor corset and leggings of bronze gold, deep red hair, bright green eyes, and what made her even more noticeable in Jaune's eyes was a tiara adorned on her head. Making her look like some warrior princess from some faraway kingdom.

"Yeah," He nodded his head, not sure if this girl really was someone important or not. "I work for the Bugle and my assignment is to write an article about the team and how the next generation of young Huntsmen will play in our society. You know, since there is some backlash about Huntsmen not really being helpful to the people, so I'm trying to do my best to fix that by seeing first hand at what it's like here."

"That sounds very insightful," The boy with the single highlight in his hair told Juane. "You're the only one who actually wants to write something that can help people be more appreciative towards our line of work. Rather than the be like the other reporters who just want gossip and spread their own words rather than our own."

"Thank you," The blonde scratched the back of his head. Feeling very happy at getting praise for his work then having J.J always criticize him. "To be honest, they only picked me since I'm the youngest they have. So, I'm not sure if what I say will have any impact."

"Nonsense, I'm sure whatever you'll write in the newspaper will be interesting." The warrior red head told him. "What makes a good reporter, in my opinion at least, is that they ask questions that are about the person their interviewing rather than the results that person did."

"Yeah!" The second girl, the one who caused the flash bang, was now in Jaune's face making the boy take a step back. "Also, you seem to less pushy and more considerate then the last batch of people who tried to talk to us."

"Speaking about you guys," The writer for the Bugle moved his eyes to each person in front of him. "Can I get you guy's name, please? I hate to sound rude, but I don't know your names."

"No problem," The only boy in the three-person team pulled back the ginger-haired Huntress back to his side, so she doesn't get the chance to hop around everywhere. "I'm Lie Ren, nice to meet you."

"Like wise," Jaune stuck his hand out to give a hand shake to the only boy in the team. "I don't want you to think any badly of Blake or her teammates for not telling me about you guys. Most of the time I meet them, half of it usually goes with some explosions and bad guys."

"And what about the other half?" Ren asked him.

' _The other half is me dressed up in a costume to save said team from making more explosions and stopping the bad guys.'_

"The other half is just normal talk between us. I'm not a Huntsmen like you guys, so I don't really have cool things to say."

"Well I'm sure you'll love it here, Jaune!" The shorter girl who looked like her hobby was roller derby said. "I'm Nora! Nora Valkyrie! Nice to meet ya!"

"Nice you meet you too, Nora." Jaune couldn't help but chuckle at her enthusiasm, making him feel a bit better at knowing that she didn't meet to cause such an accident out of hate. "I got to say, that thing was pretty effective, was it supposed to blow out pink smoke?"

"Well, usually all my canisters make pink smoke," Nora used her index finger and placed it on her head. "Sorry about that, Jaune. It was really supposed to be a smoke one, but I guess I still need to measure how much dust I put it, because it was more like a flash bang then a smoke grenade."

"Apology accepted, Nora." He smiled, glad that it was him that got a face full of pink rather than someone else. Because in all honesty, that thing still would have caused harm to a normal person, so luckily Jaune wasn't normal anymore.

"Ok, Ren, Nora," To remember their names, the blonde pointed at each face before he landed on the last person who didn't introduce herself. "And you are, miss…?"

The girl gave Jaune a surprised look at his obliviousness at who he was seeing, but that surprise changed to a small smile as the young Huntress lifted her hand to introduce herself.

"I'm Pyrrha Nikos, the leader of this team," Her small smile grew a bit more when she saw Jaune show no reaction to her name what so ever. "It's nice to meet you, Jaune."

"Nice to meet you, Pyrrha," Jaune returned the greeting. _'Why is she so happy? It's kind of weird honestly. But hey, maybe she's just glad that someone who's a reporter is there age and not some pushy adult.'_

With their names given, Jaune went back to his main reason as to why he was here in the first place.

"Glad to meet you all, but there is the matter of finding where the dorms are."

"Don't worry about that, Jaune." Ren assured him. "We live a few doors down from team RWBY, it won't take long for us to be there."

"Thank you," He said as he trailed behind the students to where there being housed. "Since I'm writing an article about Ruby and her team, I think it's also good if I can ask other students here as well. If you guys are interested I mean."

After hearing Jaune's request, both Ren and Nora winced for some odd reason, before they looked at their team leader for her guidance.

'Why did they look like I just said something wrong? All I wanted was to ask about their time here.'

"I think we can share our own perspective at our time here, right you guys?" Pyrrha nodded her head to signal some silent message to her friends that made them feel more at ease.

"I think that's acceptable." Ren looked at Nora who nodded her head as approval.

"Totally!" the shortest of the team jumped for joy and walked backwards to talk to their extra tagalong. "Have I got a story for you! So, it starts with just me, Ren, and Pyrrha battling in the emerald forest with giant nevermore hot on our tail!"

"Really?" He couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at Nora's adventure. Even though he saw firsthand how large some of the cages used to hold Grimm were in that A.I.M base just a few nights ago.

"For once, Jaune." The long black-haired boy smiled as they walked back to their room with Nora retelling their beginning of their first semester in Beacon. "She's not exaggerating."

* * *

 **Well, here we are, in 2019 and starting it with Jaune finally entering Beacon academy, not as a student, but as the new reporter for The Bugle! Also, finally getting entered into this storyline is Ren, Nora and Pyrrha Nikos! With my story getting some attention, and with more help from other people, I can start adding some more elements I wanted to bring, but couldn't due to lack of help and time outside of writing.**

 **This chapter will be the starting point of the main storyline if RWBY, but I will make sure to also have chapters involving Spider-Man and his own adventures, so don't worry if you think I will always focus on the RWBY cast.**

 **With the reveal if Whitley being Iron Man, I can also place little easter eggs of other heroes I have in mind that will show in future chapter, making it more expanded to the point where it will change up the plot line of RWBY. I really had nothing more to say about this one, I just wanted to have one where Jaune is just being him and finally seeing the difference between a privileged school like Beacon compered to his normal public one.**

 **I also thought of it as a call back to RWBY Volume 1, where Ruby lays on the floor due to an explosion and is helped by Jaune on her first day. I used that and made Jaune get helped by Pyrrha and also seeing the rest of her team.**

 **Making this chapter was somewhat difficult due to me having not enough time to make it, but also just making a full chapter with a slice of life and no real action. Hope you guys like it, but the next chapter will have the full main cast of RWBY that will start up more main story point from then on.**

 **Now, on to other matters, I will answer some questions you guys might have. I'll try to answer some as best as possible and if I didn't answer them, then I will do it on the next chapter I publish.**

 **Now, I know most of you wanted Jaune not to go to Beacon since it would defeat the point of having Jaune be by himself to be his own person. Some of you even voiced you complaints and even left this story to find better ones. I will tell you now, this story is about Jaune and his time as Spider-Man, I don't intend to make it revolve around RWBY all the time. I'm just using it as the base of the plot and developing it with Marvel features, it's really a crossover if I just stick with all Marvel now would it?**

 **For Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha showing up, it was bound to happen anyway. They are also the main cast and they have more screen time compared to side characters, so it was bound to happen when team RWBY hangs out with them almost all the time, so at some point Ruby might invite them next time to hang out and they might meet jaune outside the school at some point anyway.**

 **For Blake being somewhat nonchalant about getting a call from Jaune asking for direction in Beacon might sound odd, but remember that her team is in the center of a news storm, so of course she will be in the know when Weiss gets a assigned to a reporter to write an article about her team. If you guys might forget or not read this, I will explain it in the next chapter to fill in the gap.**

 **For something completely unrelated to this chapter, I also get comments about how Jaune isn't in character as to the one in RWBY. I know Jaune is an awkward, unconfident, social outcast, but people think the character I'm writing is none of those things. I suppose that when the read the dialogue for Jaune, they hear it as if it's completely out of character, but when he's Spider-Man then of course he will be not himself.**

 **In the comics, Spider-Man has a different personality to Peter since he hides his true feeling under his mask and to also not show weakness in front of his enemies who are trying to kill him. I made sure I have Jaune in the same predicament as well as trying to stick to the source material, but when he's Spider-Man then he will be a different person since he doesn't want people to think they share the same personality and humor. If some of you noticed, Jaune is pushover, but as Spider-Man he can be what he could never be if he was in Beacon, a confident and a wise cracking crime fighter.**

 **I like to give that's to my Beta, who you guys should check out to see his own stories too. Don't forget to like, fav, and also comment me or message me on anything you want answered. That you and have a good start in 2019!**


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28 Interview with the Huntress part 1

It was the usual routine for team RWBY to always head to their room and start on their homework, so they can make way for their free time. Things such as playing video games, getting ready for the next day in class, or in Blake's case reading books that aren't allowed in Beacon's library and in the hands people younger than her.

Yet, the one person who seemed to not feel at home was a young heiress who was using her own personal compact mirror. Double checking her hair to make sure it was just right and her make up to make sure she didn't make any mistakes.

Why is she going to such length to make her appearance even more beautiful? It was simple really, she was taught at home to make sure she looked her best when on the spotlight for everyone to see. So, out of instinct, Weiss Schnee made sure to look her appearance as the reporter sent from the Bugle will be arriving to interview her and possibly be the deciding factor of if she will stay in Beacon or not.

"Need to make sure to brush my hair again," She whispered to herself as she saw a few strands starting to fray. "Can't give off a bad impression."

Moving her mirror to see if she can spot any other discrepancies, the small mirror did its job at showing her what she needed to fix as well as her teammates. Said team who weren't doing the same preparations as the young heiress.

Two of which were playing some awful fighting game while the only Faunus in the team was lounging on her bed reading some book. None of them even trying to get themselves ready for what's to come. Really, the only thing they did change however was getting out of their Beacon uniforms and into their casual clothing.

"Are you guys not getting ready for the interview?" She asked, not even sure how these three can be so relaxed at this time. "We're being questioned by a someone who works for the Bugle. A company that's spreads the daily events that inform everyone in Vale of what's going on. People who have some bad opinions of us as well as Huntsmen as a whole."

"Are you forgetting who's coming here, Weiss?" Asked the blonde Huntress, not taking her eyes off the game she was playing with her little sister. "It's Jaune, the guy Ruby saved from getting robbed, remember? He's not some random old guy with a stick up his rear, he just got promoted from a guy taking pictures of interesting people to a guy writing about interesting people!"

"I don't think he'll be worried about how we look, Weiss." Ruby assured her partner. "I think he'll understand that we didn't have enough time to clean up. We always have sparring matches with Ms. Goodwitch, so maybe he won't mind if we a little bit dirty."

"Ruby's right, you know," Yang turned around just enough to have look over her shoulder. "Besides, are you really going to such lengths to make yourself look hot to Jaune? I feel like the one who should be really getting ready is you, Ruby."

"Yeah, what my sis- whatawhat!" Ruby lost her train of thought and looked at her sister in surprise. "No! Stop saying stuff like that!"

"To late!" Using this as a good opportunity, Yang won the round and raised her arms in the air to cheer for her victory. "Woohoo! I win!"

"You cheater!" In anger, the youngest of the team grabbed a nearby pillow from one of the beds and threw it at Yang.

Seeing the feather bag coming, Yang wasted no time to move her body to avoid the hit. What she didn't account for was the person behind her getting a face full of feathers.

"Oof!" Weiss was so focused on her looks, that she didn't notice the pillow contacting the back of her head, causing her to drop her mirror and ruining her perfect hair.

"Oops…" Ruby's eyes were wide open as she saw Weiss getting smacked by the pillow that was intended for Yang. "Sorry, Weiss."

Growling in frustration, the White-haired teen was about to say something to the two siblings when she heard a scroll ring out.

Looking at her bed, Weiss thought that it was coming from her own, thinking that it might be Mr. Obadiah or Whitley calling her, but it was not making no sound whatsoever.

"Hello?" Attention now laid on their fourth teammate, the three girls stayed quiet as Blake answered her scroll. "Jaune?"

"Jaune?" Ruby said in surprise, not sure when Blake gave her contact number to the young man. "When did Jaune get her number?"

"Ooh~!" Yang, not wanting to pass this up, placed a hand over her smirk as she looked between her partner and her baby sister. "Looks like someone else's hand is caught in the cookie jar~! What you going to do about, Ruby?"

"Stop it, Yang." The scythe wielder glared at the close combat fighter but couldn't hold it due to the rising heat coming from her cheeks. "Why do you always do that when I try to make friends?"

"I don't do that, Ruby. Just the ones that are perfect for you to date." Yang clarified her reasons and then laughed when Ruby groaned from embarrassment.

As both Ruby and Yang settled their argument, Blake continued her conversation with Jaune.

"We're heading our way to our room now, but where are you specifically?" Blake asked.

"Blake," Weiss wipered to the cat Faunus. "Why are you lying? We're already in our room."

"You wanted time, right? Well, I'm giving you time." Blake told Weiss and then went back to taking on her scroll.

"Group of news crews?" Pondering on what Jaune told her, the blonde hero on the other line of the call waited for a reply from Blake. "Looks like you just entered the place where we started our initiation, Jaune. We're already at our room, but we have some friends that are still there who are close to us."

What she didn't tell Weiss was that Blake also wanted time to put away her books. She was fine to talk with Jaune since she knows him well enough to not bend her words to his benefit. However, she still wasn't sure if it would be appropriate to have her literature books scattered around to have some boy see it as the first thing when entering the room.

"I don't think it'll hurt if you do. We always hang around them, so they already know why you're here."

Not saying a word about what Blake was telling the blonde reporter, Weiss turned her head and used her arms to signal the siblings to stop bickering. The heiress wanted to make sure she can hear the book enthusiast's conversation better without the background noise of Yang and Ruby.

Giving her teammates a flat look at just how bluntly they were looking at her with no effort to hide it, Blake started to lower her voice to make them unable to hear her.

"They know about Roman working with the White Fang, but I kept the information about you working with Spider-Man a secret all to myself." She eased his worried mind.

Glancing back at her friends to see them cupping their ears to hear better, the secret Faunus rolled her eyes and ignored them.

"I'm glad they didn't," She said truthfully. "If we decided to call them for backup, I'm sure it would have made things worse. They're good friends, very loyal and trustworthy, but they have their own problems to deal with and we don't want it to be worse for them."

Able to hear some of Blake's low voice, Weiss looked at Blake in a questioning manner as to why she's telling Jaune about Pyrrha and her team.

Especially Pyrrha, she has enough on her plate with other reporters getting in her team's way in Beacon, so Weiss didn't understand Blake's reasoning as to why she was telling this to Jaune.

"I suppose so," She chuckled, apparently something funny Jaune said that made Blake crack a smile. "Either way, I'll message them to meet you in the front, you just make your way and wait for them."

Ending her call with that last statement, Blake searched through her contacts, found the number to one of her classmates, and texted the message regarding Jaune's visit.

Task being done, Blake was about to read the page where she stopped at when it donned on her at how quiet the room was. Moving her eyes to her team, she could see them giving her a surprised look, as if Blake suddenly grew a second head or something.

"What's wrong?" Blake asked.

The first to break the silence was Blake's partner, who's face lit up like it was her birthday.

"Blake~!" Yang moved the upper half of her body side to side in happiness. "Was that a smile and a laugh just a couple of seconds ago? That was caused by a boy no less? You have got to spill the beans on this, right now! No arguments give us our daily dose of teen romance!"

"Excuse me?" The feline huntress lost what Yang was talking about. "I was just talking to Jaune. He's here and needs help getting over to our room. All I did was txt Ren about him, why are you so giddy?"

"It's not my fault I get to see you smile _and_ laugh at the same time!" The brawler couldn't help but laugh at her own amusement. "Especially when it's with a boy! A boy that isn't Sun!"

Hearing about another blonde young man made the Faunus slam her book and gave Yang the stink eye.

"I'm not into that guy, Yang."

"Doesn't mean Sun isn't interested in you!" Yang tossed her head back and laughed even louder. "Seriously, the guy hovers around you whenever he spots you from, like, across the school yard! He's cool and all, but man, will Sun be surprised when he sees you actually giving more attention to Jaune."

"He doesn't even go to this school!" Blake argued. "We barely see him outside of Beacon, we only see him at his jobs working none stop. If you ask me, I think the only one here who sees him more often is Ruby!"

"Whaaat!" Caught off guard by the sudden shift in target. Ruby glanced at both her sister and Blake with nervousness getting harder and harder for her to hide with how red her face was getting. "T-that isn't true at all!"

"You met him the day before, right?" Yang asked her little sister.

"Well, yeah!" Ruby told truthfully. "But, it was in a bad time! He was getting robbed by Roman's thugs!"

"That makes it even more interesting!" The blonde huntress gushed at the fantasy she was imagining in her mins. "Saving someone on the very first day you meet will totally make you look more appealing to him! I'm sure he thinks you're a bad ass warrior who takes no flak from anyone!"

"Are you sure your delusions are your own and not about Ruby?" Weiss decided to cut in on this conversation. Hoping that she can stop this pointless gossip and get back to getting her hair back to peak condition. "I fear that your projecting a bit too much of yourself on Ruby. Or is your hair absorbing more than just chemicals from your very questionable brand of shampoo and conditioner?"

"Hey!" The lavender eyed teen raised a finger at that shot about her hair. "Just because my hair products aren't as fancy, or knowable, and also hard to find in legitimate stores, doesn't mean it can't get these luscious locks nice and full!"

To prove her point, Yang whipped her head to the side to let her long locks flutter in the air.

"Pwaapoof!" Too bad for Weiss, Yang's hair was long enough to smack the Schnee and caused her to spit out whatever toxins Yang placed in her hair. "You did that on purpose!"

"Hey, pretty sure you would do the same with your hair." The older sister of Ruby snorted. "Though, I'm pretty sure whoever gets hit by your hair will feel like they're getting lashed by a whip!"

Unable to take anymore insults about her looks, Weiss was about scream her obscenities to Yang, only to be stopped by her partner.

"Please stop," Ruby begged. "Trust me when I say this, but you will not win when it comes to Yang and her hair. Trust me, a girl in Signal challenged Yang into who has the better hair and the next day that girl left Signal with a beanie covering her head."

"What, she cut off her hair to be short or something?" Weiss questioned.

"I didn't say she had short hair, Weiss." Ruby had a haunted look on her face. "That, or it could be the fact that one of the students in Yang's class might have spat out a gum wad that landed in that girls' hair. I also heard about her parents moving to a different kingdom, so that really explains why she never came back to Signal"

"Really, Ruby?" Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose at how easily she believed in her partner's ridiculous story. "Look, can we just drop the hair thing and get back to what really matters?"

"Your right, Weiss," Yang changed from teasing to serious. "What we need to discuss is that fact that Jaune has both Blake's and my sister's number."

Snapping the book shut loud enough to surprise the rest of the team, Blake's eyes shifted from side to side at what Yang just said.

"I-I gave my number to Jaune when we tried to look for Blake during the rally." Ruby, her cheeks start to go red explained. "That's why I gave it to him, Yang."

"Huh-uh." The elder sister didn't sound convinced. "Say that I do believe you, sis. That still doesn't help the fact that Blake gave away her number, to Jaune I might add!"

"Yang," Blake let out a frustrated sigh. "What's the big deal? I gave Jaune my number because he needed help finding this place. I gave it to him when we were all leaving out of that café with Stane and Whitley's little brother."

Raising her eye brow to show she wasn't buying it, she decided it was time to explain her own reason Blake gave out her number to a guy like Jaune.

"Of course, Blake, it makes so much sense that you, the girl who practically invented social ineptitude, would willing be the one to give out your personal number to someone your barley know." Yang nodded her head at Blake's explanation.

"Unless you're totally crushing on that someone!" Before Yang squealed with delight at Blake's attempt to get a boy. "The first time I saw him, I thought he was like some wall flower with bad social skills. Which makes it so cute to imagine my sister hooking up with him!"

Hearing that her older sister would say something like that would have made Ruby shout that all of it was complete nonsense.

"Wha- yo- guh!" Too bad for her, the red hooded Huntress couldn't speak in words since her brain was overworked with how Yang could be so blunt.

"He's seems nice, works, smart, and is totally not full on masculinity compared to other boys. A text book definition of a good boyfriend! I thought it was cute that my sis was finally getting interested in boys. Honestly, I was afraid that she would be too obsessed with weapons."

"Now though," She looked at both her sister and Blake. "It turned into those comedic love triangles with all three of the people being totally oblivious to social ques! It's like watching those old love comedies Dad and Uncle would watch from time to time!"

As Yang was laughing, Weiss moved on from pinching the bridge of her nose to rubbing both sides of her temples.

"I can't believe that this got out of hand so quickly. I just wanted us to get ready and look presentable, so we can give off a good start at our interview." Said the heiress to the SDC.

Yang, still laughing from the newly formed love triangle, was placed bat to reality when Weiss started talking to her.

"Why are you laughing? Shouldn't you be worried about Ruby and Blake taking an interest in Jaune?"

"It's not like that." Ruby explained.

"I'm not interested in Jaune!" Blake explained.

Taking in some air, Yang wiped a lone tear from her eye and looked at Weiss with a smile still on the blonde girl's face.

"That is true, however, I have seen Jaune enough times to know that he is far too clueless and too much of a boy scout to toy with the emotions of a girl. Especially since those emotions are tied to girls who are training to kill monsters."

"Can you please drop it, Yang?" Blake finally had enough of the teasing. "I'm not into Jaune like that, so Ruby can have all the time in Remnant to get him."

"He's my friend!" Finally, Ruby was able to make a sentence after she got over her relapse of judgment. "Very normal to have a guy as a friend! Nothing suspicious about it, so stop assuming things, please!"

"Don't worry, Ruby," Yang reached over and gave Ruby a pat on the head. "It's hard to admit your first crush, but I'm pretty sure it'll be harder for you since Jaune is just as socially awkward like you."

"Stop talking!" Ruby wailed while she beat her fists on to Yang's back to stop her older sister from talking anymore nonsense.

"Real mature, Yang." Blake spoke as Ruby continued to do her best to stop Yang from laughing at her embarrassment. "I swear, if you open your big mouth to Sun about Jaune!"

How they acted from doing mundane things to complete chaos in just moments was but a normal thing for team RWBY. Weiss knew that this would happen, well, not the part with Blake and Ruby, but she at least got used to how her team functions.

"Ok, all of you," Weiss took a deep breath. "STOP!"

Screaming to gain her team's attention, Weiss gave each one a look of disapproval.

"Geeze, Ice Queen," Yang stuck a pinkie finger in her ear. "I hate to see the poor sop marrying you some day."

"No kidding." The only Faunus in the room grumbled, rubbing her feline ears so the ringing would stop.

"Hhm-mh." Ruby made a sound in her throat to agree, since she was too busy cupping her ears to hear anything else.

"Too bad, you guys need to focus on what's about to happen." Weiss talked in a stern tone to show that she means business. "We have to look like we're taking this seriously. Just because Jaune is our friend, doesn't mean we shouldn't act professionally. We're training to become full-fledged Huntsmen, if Jaune sees us acting like we usually are then he'll see that we're not taking this as a serious matter."

"I thought he was going to interview us in a natural environment of a Huntsmen in training?" Yang pointed out. "Doesn't that mean we should be acting like we usually are everyday?"

"That's true, but you must realize that when Jaune publishes his article, people might not like what they read. Don't forget, Jaune may be a friend, but he's a reporter too, which means he's going to take his job more seriously."

Feeling that ringing going silent, Blake hopped off of her bed, placed her book back into her bookshelf and faced her teammates.

"Weiss does have a point. Didn't Jaune say that he's working multiple jobs, Ruby?"

"Well, yes," The shortest girl in the group scratched the bottom of her chin with a finger. "He works at that dust store, the diner, and also the Bugle."

"Three," Blake said the amount of jobs Jaune has for a 17-year-old teenager. "Don't forget he's also the same age as us, so that means he also balances all of that while doing school work."

"You see what I'm getting at?" Weiss brought back the topic to herself. "Jaune will make sure he'll take his job as professionally as possible. That means we do the same, we can't assume that we can just shirk this off and think that Jaune will be ok with that. He wants to help us, but he can't just write stuff that we do daily. It might just cause the image of Huntsmen to diminish even further!"

Seeing it on Weiss's point of view, Yang, Ruby, and Blake looked at each other and to their room after their little skirmish.

Even though Weiss's part of the room is neatly clean and organized, the rest of the room was not. Beds not made, books in different places, and other small messes that was left scattered made a clear sign that this place needs cleaning.

"Ever heard that first impressions are everything? If we can at least clean this place up and start acting properly for at least this first day, then slowly we can ease back into our own lifestyle." The Heiress to the SDC threw out that idea to try and convince her team to agree.

Seeing that she had a point, the rest of the team agreed and pitched in to clean up their mess before Jaune and the rest of their friends show up.

"We're here!" Screamed Nora as she barged right in to catch team RWBY in the middle of cleaning up their room.

Too bad for them, they were so caught up in their little argument, that it gave enough time for Pyrrha and her team to arrive with team RWBY's reporter.

"Wow!" Nora gasped. "This place looks way cleaner then the last time we were here!"

"We just started." Weiss said, dropping a random sock back on the floor and shaking her head.

"I know, that's why I said it was cleaner than before!"

* * *

Having all the key players in one place, Jaune had one thing on his mind right now.

' _I'm in a girl's room.'_ The idea that he was now in a room that isn't his sisters made Jaune look around to see the team's personal quarters. _'They have make shift bunk beds. That's so cool, but how do these hold their weight? Not that I'm saying their fat, but some of the beds are being held by books, rope, and sheets.'_

Still eyeing everything in the room, the leader of team RWBY used that opportunity of Jaune's misplaced focused and talked to her fellow team leader.

"Thanks for helping Jaune find the way over here, Pyrrha. I know it was sudden, but we really appreciate it." Ruby thanked her.

"No, it's no problem at all, Ruby." She gave her usual kind smile to Ruby. "If it means helping your team get those slanderous words people are saying about you four to stop, then I'm happy to help."

While both Ruby and Pyrrha were talking, the rest of their teams soon did the same, with the only exception being Blake standing behind Jaune still looking around their room.

"I'm not sure finding our room to be fascinating to be somewhat innocent curiosity or just plain creepiness." Blake bluntly told Jaune what she thought he was doing.

Stopping to register what she said, Jaune felt embarrassment filling his cheeks at what she was implying before turning around to face her.

"Please don't say stuff you don't mean, Blake." Jaune wined, not wanting her to tell the rest of her friends that Jaune was some weirdo. "I just, you know, trying to understand how you guys, Huntsmen-in-training I mean, try to make this place seem homier. Yeah, that's my explanation."

Snorting at his terrible reason, Blake just turned her head and saw that her team was still talking to the other group of students.

"I'm sure they already told you their names, Jaune. I hope you didn't run into any other complications other than getting lost."

 _'I got greeted by a flash bang.'_ Jaune wanted to tell her that but thought that it was better to keep it to himself. "I was kind of confused at where to go, but I'm happy to see more of your friends. What about you guys? I hope today was more progressive with you guys."

"Well, as you can see," Blake pointed at areas in the room that were somewhat disorganized. "We've thought it was a good idea to try and clean our room before you showed up. Weiss thought that it was always good to make a good impression on the first day."

"We met before I was assigned to do this." The Blonde boy said to Blake. "I understand if you guys are busy with school work, and it's not like I'm going to criticize you guys on stuff like this, I'm also new to the whole reporter thing."

"Well, one of us in the room is a veteran to media," Blake and Jaune both looked back at Weiss who was talking to Pyrrha and Ruby. "Kind of feels really pointless now for her to even try and get this place clean now that you're here."

"I'm not really tidy myself, Blake, I usually get reminded once in a while to clean my room by my Aunt."

Jaune was also thinking about why he always gets reminded to clean his room. Cause every time he gets back from his nightly rounds in the city, Jaune comes back too tired to clean his room.

"So, I'm here, you guys are here, you want to get started?" The young reporter asked the assembled students. "Since I'm writing an article that will help lessen the burden of Vale's Huntsmen community regarding the dangers happening in Vale. Including that whole incident at the highway, but I don't think you guys to be reminded about that."

Taking a breath to collect his thoughts, Jaune looked at each Huntsmen that was accepted into Beacon.

"I want to try and get to know you guys and help me understand how Huntsmen aren't really different from the people you protect. Now, I asked if Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha if they want to be a part of this and they accepted. But, since I'm mainly assigned to team RWBY, I'll start with any one of you girls or all at once if you're up for it."

"Phrasing." Yang whispered, only to get an elbow to the ribs by her partner.

"I think it's only right if our team leader goes first," Rubbing the spot where Blake pushed her elbow into Yang, the youngest one in the room gave her older sister a look of murder for putting her into the spotlight. "It's only natural to let her go first. She's younger, got into Beacon way earlier than other students, and is out leader so the rest of us will just wait outside for you guys to start. Have fun!"

"Wait, I thought I should go fi-" Before Weiss can complain, Yang was the first one to push her out of the door.

"No one likes a kill joy, Weiss" Was all Yang said as both were out of the room.

* * *

[First interview: Ruby Rose]

Now, having only just Jaune and Ruby by themselves in the room made the team leader start seeing her partner's wise words come true.

' _Maybe I should've listened to Weiss's idea on cleaning myself up before talking to Jaune.'_ Looking down at what she was wearing, Ruby Rose started to feel self-conscious of what Jaune might be thinking about. _'I wore this outfit when I was sparring in Ms. Goodwitch's class, should I have worn something different? Now that I think about it, I wore this outfit every time I met with Jaune!'_

"Ok, Ruby," Snapping out of her dilemma from Jaune interrupting her think, the young Huntress switched her focus on Jaune. Who was pulling out a pencil, a notepad, and his camera out of his backpack. "This is new for both of us, so I don't want you to feel pressured on thinking too hard on answering some questions."

"Ok, Jaune," The crimson hooded Huntress looked to the only desk in the room that also came with a chair. "You want to take a seat? I can just sit on my bed or my sister's bed and we can start then."

"It's fine, Ruby, you use the chair, I'll just lean on the desk." Jaune suggested.

Moving their conversation somewhere better, Ruby took her place on the seat while Jaune was leaning on the desk. If both didn't notice by now, the distance between the two teens was just one step away, yet it seemed that both didn't seem to mind much.

"Let's start this off with just asking how your day was?" He asked as he scribbled something on his notepad.

"Pretty normal if you ask me," She shrugged her shoulders, not really having anything to complain about how today was. "Just had regular class, sparring, and the occasional na- studying, studying with one of our professors."

"Sparring?" That seemed to peak Jaune's interest. "Can you explain more about that? I didn't know you guys can fight one another."

"Well, we wouldn't be good Huntsmen if we didn't know how to fight more than just Grimm." Ruby lifted her finger to count how many times she was called into the center ring from their professor. "I was called out more often to spar with some of my classmates, something to do with how I'm the only one who skipped a grade or two."

"She called you out just because you were good enough to jump ahead of your education?" Jaune sounded somewhat mad at how Ruby's teacher would do that to just her.

"No, no, no!" The flustered young girl waved her arms to get rid of the misunderstanding she caused. "It wasn't just that! Professor Goodwitch was hard on me the most in the beginning of the semester because she doesn't pick favorites. It was also because that some of the other students didn't really think it was fair that I was able to be in Beacon this early."

"Ahh, I see," The blonde boy written down more of his thoughts on what Ruby was telling him. "Just your run of the mill jealous students. Did they at least stop after some time, or are they still giving you a hard time? If this is getting personal, you can tell me to stop."

"It's alright, I'm ok with answering. After I won by beating the other students, they stopped seeing me as some brat with a huge ego and started to respect me for being skilled enough to be part of Beacon."

"I'm glad they stopped thinking like that towards you, Ruby. I'm even more happy they didn't resort to just be jerks and bully you."

"It was really a rough ride in first semester," She said truthfully. "Aside from other classmates thinking I shouldn't be in Beacon, I was also having a hard time being a team leader to girls who are older than me."

"Yet you still retain the title and have been doing great ever since." The blonde reporter said his piece while also writing what he said down on paper. "Wow, Ruby, I got to say, but you're really amazing."

"Woah," Heat began to rise in Ruby's face. "I don't think I'm all that, Jaune. That's how people thought I was in the beginning of this year, thinking I was conceited because I got in way sooner than others. I'm normal, yeah, just normal... normal knees."

"What was that?"

"Nothing!"

"No, Ruby, you've told me that you struggle to be a good team leader as well as trying to make sure you don't let other people make you feel like you don't belong here. That right there, makes you great. They have a word for that: Underdog and people love an underdog."

"They do?"

"A girl as young as you, transferred to a school with students who are older than you, and being a leader of three other Huntresses makes you great in my book."

"Jaune," She felt like the room started to get a little too hot. "I'm just a normal girl… normal."

"Yeah, you are normal, Ruby. So am I and that's why I'm making sure I'll write this article showing that Huntsmen are normal people too. This is great, thank you for telling me about your first semester, Ruby."

"It's nothing really."

"Maybe, but I like it, not just about being a reporter, but also just talking to you. You usually see me when I'm at work and that's usually my coincidence, so, in a way, being a reporter is a good excuse to hang with you guys."

"Geez, Jaune." Ruby couldn't help but crack a smile and punched Juane's arm in a friendly gesture. "You don't have to think like that! I gave you may number, even if we can't hang out sometimes doesn't mean we can't call each other."

"True," Finishing up on what he was writing on, Jaune looked at his scroll he placed on the desk to check the time. "Wow, we've been talking for that long? It felt short! I think this is a good stopping point for us, do you mind if you can see of one of your other team members wants to go next?"

"Sure, let me go see!" Lifting herself off the seat, Ruby left to room to get the next person.

Having a moment to himself, the secret hero slumped his shoulders to express his current emotion of being sad.

"Ruby really does deserve to be here." Looking back to what he written down, Jaune couldn't help but snort at some of the side comments he written down. "Much more than I do."

Things like: 'Cool', 'Awesome', 'Not the place for you', and 'She's braver then you' were written whenever he heard more about her time in Beacon.

' _Man, I suck. Just before coming here I was complaining about my issues, yet Ruby deals with this place 24/7. I really need to stop pitying myself.'_

The sound of the door opening gave Jaune the time to register that another student of Beacon entered, shaking him out of his funk and back to his job.

"Ok," He put on his smile to the next person getting interviewed. "Let's start on your side of Beacon life, shall we?"

* * *

[Second Interview: Yang Xiao Long]

To say the difference between the two siblings was like comparing Jaune to his school bully, Flash Thompson.

Both may be blonde and tall, but that's where the similarities stop from there. Jaune is smart compared to Flash's average grades, with a minor exemption being P.E. While Flash Thompson is the most popular senior in Midtown High, Jaune is the most unnoticeable student that some even forget his name. Another thing that sets them apart is that Thompson is a bully and Jaune is the nerd who gets picked on by him every chance Flash can get.

Which is even more weirder knowing that Jaune gets bullied by Flash, who is also his biggest fan when he's Spider-Man.

That is how weird it was to Jaune when he finally had the chance to fully examine Yang, Ruby's older sister.

With Ruby, she was shorter and cute that made Jaune always happy to see her and her infectious attitude.

For Yang, it just made Jaune confused and embarrassed, like if he tried to speak in front of her he would think he made an idiot out of himself.

Ruby was also like him when it came to being kind of a dweeb, always having a hard time expressing his emotion in the right way and feeling self-conscious when being around others.

Yet for Yang, she just had this cool and confident aura around her that if she wasn't a Huntress and applied at his school, Yang would be crowned prom queen with no opposers for four years straight!

And, if Jaune was being honest, even with Ruby's great figure, she couldn't possibly hold a candle to her older, more mature sister.

Plus, her boobs are just freaking fantastic.

' _Stay calm, Jaune.'_ The young reporter looked down at his notes, trying not to look up. _'Just cross your legs and everything will be fine.'_

Doing as his brain told him to, the secret hero placed his right leg over his left. Feeling somewhat in control of himself, Jaune looked back up and made sure to stay right up to eye level with Yang.

Immediately, Jaune switched legs even though he hasn't spoken a single question to her yet.

' _Crap! She's hot~! Why does this school not have any ugly students! This just proves that all super models, at some point in their life, tried to be huntsmen! Just think of her as someone else, maybe a relative, like a sister.'_

Thinking thoughts of Yang being another sister in his already large family, soon donned to him that he didn't really have to think that hard.

' _Huh, taking a closer look, she would definitely fit in with my sisters. Thank god, I thought I would have to resort to imagining her in her underwe- actually forget that part and just focus!'_

"Well, Yang, I know we haven't spoken much from the short moments we met, but I hope we can start by doing this little one on one talk."

"Sure thing," Said Yang, sitting on the chair in reverse so she can rest her arms on the back rest of the chair. "I never gotten this type of attention before, but I guess I have to get used to it when I become big and famous when this article gets out, right?"

"Yup, I guess your right about that." He didn't nod his head, only just voiced his answer, all to make sure he kept his focus on just staring at her face.

Too afraid that if he did nod his head, then his eyes will involuntary look at something that he'll probably never forget, or when Yang finally wears a something thicker to hide those sweater puppies.

"I think your being too optimistic here, Yang." He tilted his head and gave her a nervous smile. "I just got promoted and I'm already feeling pretty pressured to make sure I don't write something stupid."

"You're the one writing about what we say, reporter boy, so does that mean people will think the paper is stupid because we say something stupid?"

' _Ok, that wasn't what I meant! Quickly, divert the damage! Divert, divert!'_

"Pf-wa-Well, hold on, Yang. That wasn't what I mean, you girls are completely intelligent, especially you! All those tales about blondes and thinking, totally wrong!"

"Huh-uh," Yang just smiled at her fellow blonde who was starting to sweat. "And what else?"

"That you your smarts match your looks and that people are idiots if they don't think so."

"Keep going."

"You remind me of my sisters, all seven of them, and there successful!"

"Getting be-wait, you have seven sisters!?"

"Plus, I think your more than just che-" Jaune was fast enough to catch what he was about to say and decided to answer Yang's question rather than spit out another complement. "My seven sisters? Yeah, I'm not bluffing, got seven and half of them are either on missions and some are with their own families."

"Oh, so you also have a family of Huntsmen, huh?" She asked, now more interested in asking about his life rather than the other way around.

"I think I should be the one asking the questions, Yang." Jaune smirked at this sudden role reversal, but deep inside he could feel his stomach twist at having someone asking a sensitive topic. "Though to be fair, half of my family are huntsmen while the rest just go to school or is living in a different kingdom."

Yang made a long-whistled sound to express how much she was impressed at how large Jaune's family was.

"Bet your mom wanted to make your dad get a vasectomy after the eighth one, am I right?"

"Uh," Suddenly, childhood memories of wondering why mom needed his dad so often started to make sense. "I'm not sure she would go that far, but my dad learned the value of protection."

Idea forming in his head after talking about his family, Jaune tied in a topic with family involving Yang and Ruby.

"Speaking about family, how does it feel to have your little sister here in Beacon? She told me she got accepted two years ahead of other students. Must be proud of her, even more so with her being team leader during her freshman year."

"Proud? Nah. I've known she would be good at being a Huntress ever since she was leaving other kids from our old school in the dust! She's a natural at this, she truly belongs here and I'm glad Beacon saw her potential to be here."

Caught off guard at how Yang was casual and teasing to supportive and serious involving her younger sister. Jaune couldn't help but project his own problems with his sisters and how they supported him in his dreams of being a Huntsman.

Writing something down a bit too fast, the young hero looked down at what he wrote then flipped to another clean sheet.

"Guess 'proud' is an understatement. I also agree with you about Ruby belonging here. It just shows you that those who push themselves to be something greater gets more out of things in life."

"Yup," Yang involuntarily lifted her arms and folded them behind her head as she tilted the chair, so the back legs would be the only thing on the ground. "Bet she didn't tell you this, but when she was at the police station, the headmaster of Beacon came and talked to her."

"Hmm-mm." Was the only thing Jaune said as he written down more words on his pad. Yang also didn't notice that Jaune squeezed his legs a third time, only this time he squeezed his legs much tighter than before. "Was then when she also saw Spider-Man?"

"Can't really remember if I'm being honest. I was dealing with some of my own business before I caught word about why Ruby was with the police." Yang shook her head and suddenly laughed at something she just remembered. "Speaking about Spider-Man, have you looked at my sister's side of the room?"

"Woah!" Jaune's writing hand went out of control as soon as he heard Yang ask him if he looked at Ruby's bed side yet. "I don't believe I have, no. Heh, heh, heh…. That's just a trick question, right?"

"Oh my- Just look for yourself, doofus!"

Moving his eyes to somewhere other then Yang-

' _Thank you, god.'_

Jaune spotted some snippets of news pictures that was from the Bugle. How he knows this is because the pictures on Ruby's wall are his own, about Spider-Man, A.K.A: himself!

"Ruby always wanted to help people, ever since I could remember." The long-haired blonde set the chair back on its four legs and looked back to Ruby's bed. "Seeing that web head for the first time just made her ideas of helping other even more permanent. But, I think the most positive thing she also encountered was you."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah, I know this is sudden and your supposed to be interviewing me, but I just want to let you know something. Even though she's going to be a great Huntress, she's still young and has insecurities. She may look all happy and excited, but I know when she's faking it. So, it's nice to see she's able to make friends that aren't from Beacon, that isn't part of this world, especially since she didn't need my help."

Looking at the small section of Spider-Man pictures, the hero seemed to have enough at looking at himself on the wall and turned back at who he was interviewing.

For some reason, Jaune didn't feel like crossing his legs anymore.

"You know, I think your right about not needing to know more about you, Yang. You already shown me enough to know that Huntsmen do more than just fight Grimm and protect the people."

"Oh really? Please, tell me what you think of me?" Yang gave Jaune a friendly smile as a sign of challenge.

"It's really simple, they protect families, their own most importantly. Even though both of you are training to be people who fight monsters daily, your leader is still your little sister and you'd fight twice as hard to make sure it stays that way."

Dropping her smirk, the brawler stayed quiet for a short moment, then let out a short laugh.

"Well, look at you. Looks like you not so bad at doing this after all. Maybe next time, instead of being a reporter, you might just try being a counselor."

"Oh, Pffff!" Jaune just swatted that idea as soon as it left Yang's mouth. "It'll be a million years before I get a job as some councilor. They'd be a total idiot to hire a guy like me to fill that role."

"Maybe, but hey," She shrugged her shoulders and got off the chair. "It could happen. I think now is a good time to stop, wouldn't want to make Ruby think somethings going between us. I'll get the next one, you just sit tight."

"Thanks, Yang." Smiling in appreciation, Jaune waited her yang to leave the room, before going back a page to read what comments he had when talking with Yang.

"Note to self," He read out loud his thoughts. "Wear baggier pants."

* * *

[Third interviewer: Blake Bellode- Ballad- FFFFU]

"Shoot," Jaune messed up the spelling and erased her last name. "How do you spell your last name?"

"…" The quietest one in the team walked in to expect Jaune to start greeting her, but rather she sees the boy having a hard time with her last name. "You serious right now?"

"I'm sorry, but I literally forgot! Do you have two 'L's or one 'L'?"

"Two." She raised two fingers just to make sure Jaune knew numbers as well.

"Thanks," He scribbled down her name, stopped, and looked back up to her. "Do you ha-"

"B-E-L-L-A-D-O-N-N-A." The cat Faunus just decided it was better to just spell it for him.

"Thank you," Without complaining, Jaune just written down what she said and started his third interview. "Ok, so let's start this off with how you feel about Bea-"

"I saw there was some recent activity among the Grimm, mostly around the Emerald Forest. Was Spider-Man involved with that or what about the gun fight that happened just hours before that?"

"Or ask something completely left field, Blake, sure why not." To make it even more convincing that she was now in control of the conversation, Jaune stuck his hand out that had his pencil and pad. "Here, take it, no, I'm not mad. Matter of fact, would you also like to ask me my social or my blood type too? My relationship also? Well, don't worry I can tell you it isn't complicated."

"Jaune," Feeling like she already had enough of his ranting, Blake simply rested one hand over his. "I'm sorry that I asked that so soon."

"Apology accepted, Blake." He couldn't keep his façade for long and dropped his from for a smile. "Ok, I know you've probably wanted to ask me questions involving our friend, so let's ask each other stuff and we answer back, deal?"

"Ok, Jaune." Blake nodded her head. "My day at Beacon feels out of place, like I don't belong. I'm sure you know the reason why."

"The secret of who you really are, right?"

"Yes, now my turn."

"Whoa, whoa!" Jaune wasn't prepared to get this far so soon. "Let me write some stuff down."

"You can do that while listening to my questions. The news said that there was a shootout involving some stolen items. When the police arrived, they were already stopped by Spider-Man, but what about the forest?"

' _Knew some people would notice some noise out there.'_ He thought, still remembering the loud explosion that sent Iron Man and him hurdling to the ground.

"There was an explosion. Ok, let's back up here, what do you know about the people who got arrested?"

"Nothing much," She said truthfully. "All I know is from the small news videos and snap shots they showed-on TV and on newspapers. After that, we didn't get much more of them. Who were the people that got arrested in Vale?"

"Some people who were trying to steal from another group of bad people. Anyway, do you see other students, one's who are Faunus that feel the same too?" He knew it seemed like a very sensitive topic to ask someone who defected from the White Fang, but he felt like he needed to know.

Stopping to ponder Jaune's question, Blake bit her bottom lip to think of an answer that best describes what she feels.

"There brave, more so then me, especially one girl who is a second year. She can't hide who she is like me and she gets bullied, by a couple of first years no less. Yet, every time I see her just take it and remain passive, makes me have conflicted feelings."

Noticing that she just opened a bit more then she wanted, Blake shook her head and narrowed her eyes at the only one in front of her.

"Why was there an explosion at the forest?"

Scribbling down his thoughts on what Blake told him, Jaune finished his last sentence and answered her next question.

"Those guys were part of a group that came from Atlas, that was trying to steal some stuff. Spider-Man tracked down their lair, did his usual quips, they had a self-destruct switch, escaped, and left Spider-Man to pick up the pieces. You know, really typical villain stuff, I mean, what type of rich organization can just destroy a base like it was normal day at work?!"

"Can we get back on topic, Jaune? Please?"

"That's considered your next question, so I can ask you two now. Also, yes, we can get back on topic." The male blonde danced in his mind at seeing Blake glare at him. "How is your team, are you guys working well together?"

"We're fine," She didn't hesitate on answering. "We're actually the best team of the first years, well, minus Pyrrha's team. Guess fighting bad guys while also maintaining teenage life goes well together when you have friends who share it with you."

' _Not arguing with that.'_ Jaune couldn't help but imagine Whitley thinking the same too.

"So, after seeing both Faunus and human students being in the same school, as well as having a very close nit team, will you ever decide to drop that bow?"

A twitch came from her so called 'bow', giving Jaune a visible sign that Blake might not want to.

"Not yet, Jaune. Even though I'm sure you see bullying as a common thing in your school, I'm still trying to find my own answer to what I see in Beacon. Human and Faunus can work together, it's just that our pettiness and shallow nature as teens prevent us from seeing that working together is a better alternative then dying by the claws of the Grimm."

' _Is she cursing teenage youth? Does she have a mind of a middle age woman who still regrets not enjoying her time when she was younger?'_

Her second pair of ears twitching more profusely, the ex-White Fang member instinctively reached on top of her head to stroke her feline ears.

"Is that why more Grimm were starting to appear in the forest?" Blake asked, no having a turn at asking for some answers.

"The base Spider-Man infiltrated also had a large room where they stored Grimm."

Her back became straight when she heard why the sudden increase in Grimm activity.

"Why?" Was all she asked.

Dropping the questions he wanted to write for the article, the spider halfling decided to just answer rather then write.

"He doesn't know why they captured the Grimm, but since the base was destroyed most of them were set free. Spider-Man even told me he thought he wouldn't make it out alive with so many Grimm chasing after him."

The teens were left silent, obviously the weight of what Jaune said made both think of what might have happened if Spider-Man didn't make it.

' _Thank you, Iron Man.'_ Jaune sent a silent thank you to his new friend. _'Hope I can repay the kindness someday, but for now…'_

"We've made a decent amount of time today, Blake. If you can, will you please send in the next one. I'm sure it's about time I start talking to Weiss. That's one of the reasons I'm here in the first place, no offence."

Agreeing that their talk should end today, Blake got up from where she was sitting and headed straight to the door. Just when she was halfway through the door, she looked back at Jaune with one more question that was bugging her.

"Did he also decided to play music when fighting those guys in Vale? Cause some people told their side of the story that they heard loud music playing right where the shootout happened."

Not looking at her as he written some more words into the interview he had with her, Jaune casually walked to the door.

"Oh, yeah, that wasn't him. It was another superhero from Atlas, calls himself 'Iron Man'. They did a hero team up to fight the bad guys, the usual hero spin offs."

"I see, well I-" Walking out of the room, Blake had to stop talking when her mind finally caught up to what Jaune said to her. "Did you just say, 'Another superhero'? Jaune, what ar-"

"Next please! Thank you, Blake!" Closing the door behind her, Jaune walked back to the desk and written his final remark about Blake.

"Man, this is taking more time than I thought." Taking out his scroll he could see it was already past 6 o clock. "Well, just four more left and one of them is the person I really need to understand."

Hearing the door being opened, the spider Faunus looked to see the next person entering.

"Hello, Ms. Schnee," Jaune greeted her in a professional manner. "Please, sit down and get comfortable."

"Of course," Weiss, ever the trained lady, made the effort to stay as cool and professional even though the area they were in was her team's room. "So, what would you like to know?"

* * *

 **Ok, so I don't really have much to say for my A/N since I have been writing this chapter on and off for some time due to my work. You see, my boss just assigned me to do some training for a month starting February and I have been getting ready for it. This training will be my focus for next month, so I will not be publishing any chapter until March roles in. Most of you probably wonder why I left off at Weiss, which I can tell you now is due to me wanting to make a cliff hanger. That's right, I'm paranoid to believe most of you guys will forget about this story and the only way for some of you to remember is if I make sure I put it at where things start to get interesting. HA! HA! HAA!**

 **Still, I wanted to at least have this month getting two chapters published, so I will still write the upcoming chapters, but they will be far and few since work comes first. And we all know that work also comes with responsibilities.**

 **Either way, I like to thank my Beta, ahsoei, for helping me fix some mistakes in this chapter. Don't forget to check his work too, but make sure to like, Fav, and comment on what you guys think of this chapter. thank you!**

 **OH! Before I forget! I know most of you know about Iron Man and how he's part of my story, but I won't be making a story about him. Rather, someone else will! An author going by Nacoma23 has uploaded the first chapter of Whitley becoming Iron Man! Here's the link for you all to check his first story! Make sure to give him your support! Thank you!**

 **Link: s/13190467/1/The-Invincible-Whitley-Schnee**


	29. Chapter 29

**Disclaimer: Brotherhoof12 does not own Spider-Man or RWBY.**

* * *

 **Chapter 29: Interview With Huntsmen Part 2.**

* * *

At some point, Jaune realized that even though he complains about problems that always sets him up for failure, he's also thankful for others things in his life too. For starters, Jaune is in high school, a roof over his head, has a job, or jobs if you want to be technical, and he's also a _freaking_ **super hero!**

Still, Jaune sometimes get's overwhelmed with so many tasks being thrown his way. Sure, he handled crime before and he had started to get a good rhythm going on that balances his social life with his hero one. But to be more precise, it started to get way more out of control ever since Jaune's sky blues met a girl with pure silver on that late night at Mr. Macarren's Dust shop.

"And that's why I'm here in Beacon, Mr. Arc. I wanted to make something of myself that isn't part of my father's business but still hold the family name in a different set to reach as a Huntress." The fourth member of team RWBY explained her backstory to the young reporter. She made sure to just give him the basic reason of her motivation to be in Beacon and not part of Atlas' own Huntsmen academy. Weiss also made sure that the watered-down version would be just enough for Jaune to write about for the first day. "I hope this little talk explained why I'm here and that the combined efforts of your assistance can help people know that we aren't reckless in our duty. Far from it, we're focused, skilled, and dedicated to out craft! Which is why I know you'll make it right by writing the article about me and my team."

"Huh?" Shaking out of his mind about meeting Ruby for the first time, Jaune quickly remembered the main reason for being here.

Wiess Schnee, the second oldest child of the Schnee family and soon to be overseer of the SDC. The largest company that produces a large portion of dust resources that almost makes them practically run everything in Remnant. How she talked made her show that not only does she have confidence and poise, but also has the charisma to back up her claims. Honestly, with how well she was communicating without any signs of struggling could make anyone rapt with attention from just listening to her.

"Um…" Jaune looked at Weiss and down to his blank page that had zero words on it. "Uh…. yeah. Yeah, I got some great stuff! Even more than the rest of your team, Weiss."

"I'm sure my teammates must have given you some good material, even though I'm positive you must have written many ideas after hearing about my life in Beacon."

"Yup." The blonde boy wrote 'Boring' on the paper and nothing else. _'Jeez. I know Whitley asked me to help his sister by making sure she stays in Beacon, but I didn't know it would be so dry!'_

Ruby was easier to relate with making her a shoe in to the readers for her down to earth reasons. Her sister, Yang, is also viable for families to see that some Huntsmen do the job to protect their own family members too, giving the Huntsmen community a better image. As for Blake, she has the outside perspective of how both races act around each other while training for a greater cause. So, if she could just take off her bow and show her true self, her side of the story could hold even more weight to her logic that Faunus and Humans can work together if both sides reach an understanding.

Now, in comes Weiss and when Jaune asked her why she's here and what made her take this role as a Huntress seriously, Weiss told him her answer. For the rich huntress attending Beacon, in a broad sense, is not really something you could compare too any middle-class person. She's rich, _crazy_ rich, lives in a very large mansion/castle, has a great education, a face that doesn't require make up or beauty life hacks, and she's an opera singer! All of these makes Jaune wonder one thing.

' _How is any of that supposed to be a common thing with people that's not even a quarter of what she has? In my opinion, some would probably think she just got in cause she's famous and rich, not actually accepted due to her skills with a weapon.'_

It was going to be hard for Jaune to spin it around with Weiss, he knew it immediately when Whitley came by and told him about his plans on trying- no, succeeding in taking over his father's business with Weiss being stuck here. Worst of all, he could swear that Weiss isn't telling the full story of why she's here, all she did is give a simple rundown of wanting to remain in Vale.

' _Guess I'll just leave it for now,'_ Jaune thought glumly, not liking how the amount of limited knowledge he got from her wasn't the best compared to the rest of her team. _'I shouldn't expect anything close to home with a girl who is raised in a very high pedestal since birth. I should probably tell her some flattering words about her, so she doesn't think I'm just trying to get to the next person.'_

"You'll be the opening to my story, I'm sure Mr. Stane and your brother would be happy to read about this!"

As if stepping on a land mine, Jaune saw Weiss's perfect complexion crack when he saw her smile dip down. She didn't immediately frown, the only reaction was her lips slightly going down to a neutral state.

' _Gosh darn it! Did I just walk in to an event or something!'_ He kicked himself inside his mind for making Weiss start to show actual emotions regarding her close relatives. _'Oh, the heck with it! Weiss doesn't sign my check anyway! Plus, if I want to help Whitley, then I got to push a little into Weiss's personal life just a little.'_

Choosing to make his grave a little bit deeper, Jaune asked Weiss more about her family and not about Beacon.

"I, uh," Jaune didn't feel like having his head torn of if what he might say next could lead to her getting aggressive. "I remember someone who looks like you, a boy, who was talking to your team from a different table. Whitley was his name, right? Ruby told me when I interviewed her."

Lying about the last part, Jaune watched as the heiress of the SDC dropped her mask from being polite and gentle to thoughtful and serious.

' _Yeesh,'_ He inwardly grimaced. _'Does it really make her think that hard about what her little brother is to her? I know I only met him for just one night, and even a bit in the morning, but I think she's putting way too much thinking power into putting words to describe Whitley.'_

"Yes, he's my little brother." Weiss confirmed who the boy was that day Jaune entered the café to meet with his boss.

"I'm the middle child of three, our oldest is Winter Schnee and she's part of the Atlas military." The part where she seemed the most prideful of her family was when she talked about her older sister, Winter, but before that, Weiss held a neutral tone.

' _Man, I always knew that rich people have problems, but I didn't know Weiss's stem from family! No way I'm making a part with Weiss having family issues, that's the compete opposite of helping her stay here! Quickly! Divert it back to Whitley!'_

"Your brother seemed really lively with your team, he seems really nice too!" Jaune wasn't lying. When he first saw the guy, Jaune didn't really see anything bad about him. Of course, 'don't judge a book by it's cover' could be applied to Whitley since it was his first time meeting the young rich Schnee. Yet, that book soon turned out to be a comic book hidden beneath the chapters since Jaune found out he has a brother in arms when it comes to crime fighting.

"He sure did seem to take a great liking to Vale," Somehow, Weiss made a thoughtful look when she started to remember how he interacted with people who aren't part of her family's usual wealthy hierarchy. "I haven't seen him since I left, but he's certainly changed more than I thought possible."

"Well, what can you expect?" Jaune chuckled, remember the days when his little sisters started to change as they grew older. "You can't always think they'll be your little siblings forever, they grow up even when you're no longer at home."

' _Speaking about home, I wonder if I should message Whitley after this is over. Give him a rundown of how the first day went talking to his sister. I wonder if this violates patient confidentiality... yet again, I'm reminded that Weiss or her team doesn't wright my paycheck. Plus, I feel like the whole 'patient confidentiality' is more like a doctor thing than a reporter thing.'_

Looking down to her feet, Weiss stayed silent for a moment before finally saying something about seeing her brother again.

"It's true that I shouldn't expect to see my brother as the same person as before. I mean, the last time I saw him was when I left my family to go to Beacon."

' _When she left home to go to Beacon?'_ He tapped his writing utensil under his chin. _'That does seem like a pretty good gap for Weiss to see Whitley change. Though, I wonder why she seems like she still can't believe that her brother is so different?'_

"Is your brother's personality that drastic of a change?"

Deciding that talking about just her brother was harmless, she told him how she felt when she saw Whitley again.

"My brother changed both personality and physically which was a surprise to me. He was still shorter than me by a few centimeters, yet now he's an inch or so taller." She recounted how he also didn't seem to act his usual self when meeting people with a lower status. "My team already likes him, Ruby being the friendliest since both are into those crazies wearing costumes, my brother liking this flying man that has started to pop around Atlas."

"A hero in Atlas now?" Jaune pretended he didn't know. "Is he like Spider-Man?"

"No, the one in Atlas is called: Iron Man and so far, he's seems to already hold influence in Atlas and in Mistral. I tried to know more, but he hasn't shown as much on the internet compared to Spider-Man." After she explained what she knew about Iron Man, she went back to the topic with Whitley.

"I'm not sure what or how he changed so quickly, but the results are for the better."

' _The way he is now is better than before? Now I really want to know more about this.'_ He pushed further into Weiss's personal life. "What was he like before? Or can I get some details about your family as a whole?"

"I thought this was about me and why I'm in Beacon?" Weiss's thoughtful gaze soon changed to angry when asked about something not related to the topic at hand. "If this conversation veers off to something about my family and not by my merit of joining Beacon to train as a Huntress, then I think this conversation is over."

' _Dang it,'_ Jaune winced at how cold her tone was while at the same time how her stare felt like it was burning a hole in the center of his forehead with how hard she was glaring at him. _'Guess I wasn't really tactful when I asked her that question. She's right, though, I feel like she won't tell me anything now with her acting like this. I should probably wrap this up and talk to the rest of group waiting outside.'_

"You're right, Ms. Schnee," He agreed, not wanting to drag this on any longer and making her more angry. "What you gave me is enough for the first day and we can discuss this more in the future."

Standing up from his chair, Jaune walked to the door and opened it for her. "I apologize if I went too far for asking about more than just why you're here."

Just when Weiss was leaving out of the room, she stopped and looked back to Jaune still holding the door.

"I-" She wrestled with her emotions for a bit, not really getting used to dealing with things like this with other people. "- I'm sorry that this can't go any longer but thank you for agreeing to Mr. Stane's offer."

Leaving with that last sentence, Weiss left the room making Jaune close the door and get back to writing his thoughts with the young heiress.

' _Very closed off when talking about her family.'_ Was the main thing Jaune thought of since that was the only time when Weiss showed actual emotions regarding something not related to Beacon. "Should I ask Whitley to fill in the blanks? No, I should stop poking my nose into this and just be grateful she just gave me her answer to why she wants to stay here. Even if it wasn't as interesting as the rest of her team, in my opinion at least."

The sound of the door opening gave the signal that another one is ready for the interview.

"I saw Weiss being a little colder than usual," The only male student Jaune met walked inside. "Are we going to be worried about this later?"

"Yeah, that was my bad," Jaune didn't hide his mistake to Ren. "Guess I pushed too far, and we ended it afterwards. I hope she doesn't hold a grudge from this."

"Don't worry, Jaune." Ren placed himself in the seat where Weiss once sat in. "Give her time and I'm sure she'll understand."

"Seems like the only thing I can put my faith in right now." Flipping to the next blank sheet of paper, Jaune went back to his job again. "Ok, Ren, let's start off with some simple questions."

* * *

 **[Lie Ren]**

To say that there were boys that attend Beacon were good looking would be an understatement. Just like the female students, the boys who enrolled here were drop dead gorgeous. Don't get Jaune's sexual preference confused, he likes girls, but even he must admit that the guys here aren't half bad.

Take for instance the very confusingly attractive ebony haired boy known as Ren.

Guy has straight hair with the only thing colorful was a small streak of magenta that also matches his eyes, pale skin, androgynous features, plus his exotic clothing really does make Jaune mistake him for a girl.

' _Seriously, if I didn't know he was a guy, I might have honestly said he looked really cute.'_

' _ **THUMP!'**_

"What the heck!?" Jaune suddenly jolted from surprise when he saw a section of the wall shuddered due to some unknown force hitting against it.

"Ignore that." The one who seemed less scared, even acting like it was normal thing, was Ren who still held his usual passive posture as he waited for Jaune's questions.

"Uh, sure," Jaune wearily eyed the wall just in case another surprise happened. "So, Ren, I would like to start off and ask if you're the leader of your team?"

"No, I'm not the team leader." Ren answered. "Pyrrha is out leader for our 3-man team."

"Just the three of you, huh?" The blonde spider imagined what of would be like to be in a team with only him and two other girls.

' _Poor bastard. I know what it feels like to share a room with females, sisters specifically, so I'm sure it's absolute hell to try and get some time if your room only has one bathroom.'_

"Ruby has three other teammates making that 4, is there a reason why her team is one member higher than yours?"

"I," Ren stopped talking and looked confused at Jaune. "I'm not sure if I'm the right person to answer that. Really, the one who can best answer that is our leader, Pyrrha."

"Ok," He written a small reminder to ask Pyrrha the same question he asked Ren. "Then, can you tell me what it's like in Beacon? The teachers? Or maybe what it's like before coming here?"

"Before coming here it was… difficult to say the least, but I never regretted taking the opportunity to enroll here. The teachers are very helpful and wise beyond their years, the school also provides us many benefits we couldn't get before, and the students are always interesting to meet."

' _Jeez, buddy, rub it in why don't you.'_ The hero thought in envy. Afterall, the things Ren is telling him are all the great stuff his school doesn't provide. "I agree, everyone here looks like they enjoy this place."

Jaune's school doesn't really give out such privileges, only the basics were given from a public school to the students. Even then, the only learning center that can at least give some of the benefits Ren spoke about is when going to college and even then what most graduates get are deep college depts.

"Yes," Ren sounded grateful. "This place truly nurtures their students to become strong Huntsman. I'm glad me and Nora decided to go here."

' _Him and Nora?'_ Hearing that ginger haired bomber made Jaune start scribbling down some theories between the two. _'Are they related, friends, or maybe more? I don't want to assume the worst, but the way he sounded kind of makes me think of the worst scenario. Lord knows I don't want to ask him if he and Nora are orphans.'_

"I'm not sure if I should put that part about the school giving out such good gifts to the paper. It might send some mixed messages about you guys being really privileged compared to the average kids that aren't Huntsmen."

"Don't worry," The male Huntsmen gave a nod of understanding. "I might sound pessimistic, but I doubt the entirety of Vale will just drop their misconceptions of Huntsmen in one night. This is just a way to help Weiss stay in Beacon and we will always do what we have to for our friends."

' _Spoken like a true protag in a hero book. If I ever said that to my friends or in school, I'm sure people would just look at me funny. But for Ren, I'm sure some of the girls in Midtown High would just swoon if he ever decided to visit.'_

 _ **(THUMP! THUMP!)**_

Once more, Jaune felt the walls shake from some massive force, only for it to stop followed by several grunting that sounded familiar.

"Again?" This time, Jaune was more paranoid at whatever was causing then ever before.

"Just ignore it." Ren still gave his impassive look once more to where the thumping came from.

' _Telling me to ignore it just makes me even more scared.'_ Seeing how much notes he written down from Ren conversation, Jaune flipped to another blank page.

"I feel like that is a sign to wrap things up for today. Thank you, Ren." The blonde sat up from where he was sitting and gave Ren a hand shake. "I liked our talk and would look forward to another if you decide to try this again."

"I enjoyed our talk too, Jaune." Leaving his chair, both boys walked to the door. "We may have met for just today, but I would enjoy talking to you again without the use of you needing to be a reporter."

"Sounds like a plan." Patting Ren's shoulder, Jaune opened the door for the young Huntsman and called out to the next person.

That is, Jaune tried to call out who was next before Nora barged in and went straight for the only chair in the room.

"Ok, I'm ready!" She said with all the energy that can only be matched by a puppy that's on drugs.

Not wanting to question what just happened a couple of seconds ago, Jaune simply closed the door and went about his job.

* * *

 **[Outside]**

As the only male Huntsman exited the room, he was greeted with the sight of his other teammate waiting patiently for her turn followed by Blake who was keep her company.

"Where did the rest of your team go, Blake?" Ren asked the feline Faunus.

"Another team Ruby made friends with walked by and invited them to go get some food." Blake told him. "They weren't going out mind you, you know, on the account that we're still on thin ice, so they just went to the mess hall."

"You didn't want to go?"

"I told Blake that she didn't have to say to keep me company." The young champion explained to Ren. "Though, the reason she told me was cause she wanted to try and get some more time talking to Jaune."

"Don't phrase it like that, please." Blake gave the long-haired red head a flat look. "Don't even say that when Yang comes back. What she means, is that I still have some business with Jaune and I don't want to wait until next time. Do you know how long Nora will take with Jaune's interview?"

"If you're planning to wait," Ren put his hand under his chin. "Then I would say that you won't have to wait long if Nora will do all the talking. I'm sure by now Jaune already asked her just one question, so give or take five to eight minutes until Nora finally gives him a straight answer."

* * *

 **[Nora Valkyrie]**

"And that's how me and my team found out about how Professor Port captures Grimm." Said the Huntress in pink as she also acts out what happened during her time in Professor Port's classroom. "It was really fun at first, but then it got out from it's cage, not my fault, and it also escaped the classroom too! I blame that part to our professor."

"Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh." The blonde reporter kept nodding his head and wrote down as much as he can from what the ginger was telling him.

"Anyway, we got it under control with the help from me, but sadly it didn't move after I slammed Magnhild, that the name of my awesome hammer. Either way, the end of this story is that you should never bring a pet to work and that learning here is fun when you bring a weapon to the classroom."

' _Hmmm,'_ Jaune written the last statement from Nora's tale and when he re-read what he written Jaune quickly drew a line over that last sentence. _'Probably shouldn't put that in the article. Another side note to remember is that the faculty allows their students to bring weapons to classes that aren't related to sparring? Something to ask if I ever have the chance to talk to a teacher on a later time.'_

Ruby was kind enough to give the full detail on sparring in Ms. Goodwitch's class, but Jaune had to wonder if other teachers can have their students carry weapons when they're not sparring.

' _That will bring some bad messages to civilians, civilians with families especially.'_ Making a small task note on the carrying weapons policy for Beacon, Jaune looked at Nora to ask another question. _'Somehow she gave a long and crazy story and all I did to get that from her was ask how her day was? I'm really afraid to ask her what her entire week consists of.'_

"Nora." Throwing a dart in the dark, the young spider chose to just make his mind decide what question he should ask her.

"Jaune." For some reason she became all serious out of nowhere.

"I have a question."

"I might have the answer." Nora replied back.

"How do you feel about what people, the ones who aren't Huntsmen and their comments about how they're starting to not trust you guys? Ever since the increase with Roman, the White Fang joining him, and the recent accident with the highway, I want to know how Huntsmen feel about those accidents that weren't part of all this."

If he decided to ask that to Ruby or the other girls, then he was sure to bring them down to a sour mood. Jaune knew it wasn't their fault, he was there, for crying out loud! Yet, he knew what it feels like to hold such heavy burdens and Jaune just didn't want to see them sad anymore.

"Hmm." Positioning herself in a thinking pose, Nora arched her right eyebrow and held that posture as Jaune looked at her in bewilderment. "Nothing."

"…Nothing?" Jaune repeated Nora's answer.

"Nothing~!" Nora raised her arms and legs and yelled with the same positive energy Jaune came to familiarize with.

Soon, that joy stopped just as it appeared as Nora went back to staying still and staring Jaune dead in the eyes.

"Because I feel nothing towards strangers talking bad stuff about us. We fight to the best of our abilities and save as many people as we can. Do they honestly expect us to be prepared to fight a renowned criminal piloting a giant robot!? It's sounds fun and I would have loved to be there, but people can't seriously expect us to handle that like it's a normal occurrence to us."

"..." Jaune was left speechless at how fast Nora expressed her feelings about Vale's current events, most importantly the effects that are showing within the Huntsmen. _'She's really letting out some strong points! I mean, the bad guys expect to fight the police or the occasional Huntsmen, not some guy wearing a red jumpsuit with a hoodie that has ripped sleeves. This is some good stuff I'm getting!'_

"I cannot agree with you more about what you said, Nora. It sounds unfair that people are putting such expectations for Huntsmen to handle. Half of my family are Huntsmen and what they tell me is that above all their main enemies are the Grimm. Not giant robots and flamboyant crooks."

"Thank you!" She smiled at the blonde reporter. "Even though we have confidence in defending people from the Grimm, we still can't always expect the same kind of threat when involving our own species."

' _It's scary how she can be so bubbly now and then serious the next. Does Ren know about this? Should I warn him?'_

"Then, can you tell me if you heard any gossip among the students? How are they reacting to all this?"

"Same as any other school." Nora shrugged her shoulder. "They're just playing this all off and don't really worry about it since they weren't taking any part of this. I do hear some remarks regarding Ruby's team and their involvement, but there very far and few to be a problem."

' _They don't gossip about how some students fought a group of terrorists and a robot! That's like… gossip girl level of things to talk about while you're in high school!'_

"Really, the only thing I see people talk about is Spider-Man."

Hearing his hero person being talked among Huntsmen caused the young spider to take a detour away from talking about Beacon and more about what Beacon students say about him.

"What do they say about Spider-Man?" The secret hero said in a nonchalant manner.

"The usual stuff about how he's a weirdo, a guy who has too much time on his hands," Nora started to use her fingers to count how many different rumors she heard. "Spider-Man is crazy, he's the real criminal, not Huntsmen, the mask he wears looks creepy, and what I hear most of all is that he should also follow the law rather than be a vigilante."

"Oh, I see." Jaune too a sharp in hale of air. _'Why does it always sting when teens talk about me that way? Is it's like mid-town high, only the difference is that students of Beacon talk bad about Spider-Man and not Jaune Arc.'_

"Do you share the same thoughts, Nora?" Jaune wanted to ask someone that was close to Ruby's team out of curiosity. Since he knows that Ruby's partner, Weiss, doesn't like what he does as Spider-man, he at least wants to know if any other friends of Ruby share the same feelings for the web head.

"Why would I be mad? I have no qualms with him." She started to cross her arms under her chest and tilted her head. "Not to mention, Ruby always talks about him, same for Blake only in some occasions, but I never once heard anything remotely bad about the guy or I have not seen him do anything note worthy to be considered a criminal."

' _Wow, did Nora really say 'qualms'? Kind of had her pegged as the always happy kind, but I shouldn't always judge someone from first appearances. Still, scary how she can just jump from one emotion to the other.'_

"Then, does that mean you've heard other students say positive things about Spider-Man? Cause if I can at least see one thing Huntsmen and citizens have in common is their interest in Spider-Man."

"It's somewhat of a mixed bag. But, what I usually guess is just jealousy for the web guy."

"Jealous? Of Spider-Man? Them, the students of Beacon?" He said in amazement. _'Oh my god! No ones ever been jealous of me before. I'm usually the one who holds the envy not eh other way around!'_

"I mean, why not talk about him? He's big, like, pop culture deity level big." The hammer wielding Huntress raised her arms above her head to scale how large Spider-Man's popularity is.

"We may all back talk and say we like or hate him, but he's literally the first person who decided to dress up in a costume and fight crime! Before that, only Huntsmen were the closest thing compared to comics, but now that Spider-Man showed up people are really getting on the superhero craze!"

What Nora said was all too true. Jaune couldn't lie to himself when he can't walk a few feet without seeing Spider-Man on anyplace that wasn't reachable. It seems everyday people would talk about Spider-Man like it was a normal thing to do. Sure, there are still talk about celebrities, politics, fighting, and other topics that are thrown around Vale. Yet, almost everything gets back to the topic involving Vale's first superhero.

"I know for a fact that some want to become Huntsmen to either carry their family lineage," The roller derby like Huntress called out some reasons for some students wanting to be here. "And the other is to live out their childhood dreams of being a hero."

' _Just like Ruby and me. Well, actually just Ruby since I'm not a student.'_ He had to remind himself that even if isn't part of their group he at least had another path to take. _'I didn't really have a choice in what I do per se. However, I can see how Nora would say that anyone who had a childhood can at least have common ground at wanting to be a hero.'_

"I guess no matter how much we grow up, we all still hold on to some of our childhood wonder. Is that why you wanted to be a Huntress?" Wanting to go for a more light-hearted questions rather than a blunt approach. Jaune hoped that she can shed some light as to what her motives are for picking Beacon.

"Ren and I thought that this place is the best option!" Nora smiled. "Ren was the one who really thought that this will be the perfect place for us and I agreed! We get into great hijinks, (Sometimes) fun classes, and I totally get to fight with other students during sparring!"

' _What was that last part about classes?'_ He couldn't understand if she said something before 'fun classes', like something was said but not at the same time. _'I wonder if I just imagined it. Oh well, that just makes me more worried about her and Ren are orphans. Cause not once did she say anything involving her or Ren's parents. I mean, I'm guessing there around my age, so there not a legal age to chose this line of work. Oh my god, now that I think about it, Blake never once talked about her parents. So, maybe she joined the Fang for not just equality, but also cause she's an orphan?'_

Putting that thought aside, the reporter saw that he already filled enough notes from Nora that he's almost out of paper.

' _Man, I can't believe I'm almost out of paper. Then again, I did buy this thing in a pharmacy store. Less pages, but dang the price was just too tempting for my broke self!'_

Jaune remembered that he only has one person left and that even if Jaune couldn't get more out of Nora it doesn't mean he can't ask her if she wants to do this again.

"Say, Nora, I'm kind of running out of paper to take notes on and I want to save the rest for Pyrrha. So, is it ok if we can put a hold on this for now and next time we can talk again?"

"Sure, but before I leave, can I ask you a favor?"

"Ask a way, Nora."

"Even when you come and visit to do all this stuff, will there be times when you just want to hang out with us? My team always get into great shenanigans with Ruby's team and Ruby sometimes talks about another friend outside of Beacon." Nora was refereeing to him, since Jaune can only assume Ruby was mention him around her other friends enrolled in the school.

"What I'm trying to get at, is when you done doing this, does that mean you don't have a reason to be around here anymore? Cause I thought it would be fun if all of us spend time together rather then just having this as our only way as hang time."

Jaune had to stay silent to think about what Nora said to him. It's true, that he's mainly here just to write an article for helping team RWBY out of their jam involving the incident with the Paladin. Behind that veil was a favor from Whitley to make sure Jaune would do his best to make sure that Whitley's older sister, Weiss, would still be here for Whitley to have enough time to gain right to own their father's company.

"I liked that, Nora." Jaune smiled. "When all of this blows over, I would really enjoy knowing more about you guys."

Getting up from where he was sitting, Nora followed suit and tailed behind him as he opened the door for her.

"Hope Pyrrha is still here," He said as he tilted his head to give Nora the go a head to go out first. "I'm sure she must have walked away for a bit for waiting this long."

"She's not the only one waiting."

"Blake?" Looking out the hallway, he saw the bow wearing Faunus leaning on the wall across from the door. She was greeting the young hero with a flat stare and was accompanied by the crimson ponytailed Huntress who made a small wave of her hand.

"Hello!" Pyrrha spoke in a friendly tone. "I hope you're not leaving just yet."

"Nope, I was actually thinking you would be the one leaving."

"Well, I thought it would be impolite to just leave without saying anything."

 _'Speaking about leaving.'_ Jaune didn't fail to notice there are several missing faces that are no longer here. "What happened to everyone else? Did they decided to go somewhere else or something?"

"No," Blake was the one to answer Jaune's question. "Some students that are from Haven walked by and invited some of us to tag along to the cafeteria."

"Haven students?" The blonde had to raise an eyebrow at how odd that sounded. "Here? At Beacon?"

"For now, it's just Haven." Pyrrha joined in on the conversation. "The other kingdoms have already started to transfer their students into Beacon to get prepared for the Vytal festival. It's going to be quite large, so the other academies are moving their best here in advance to save time."

"Not to mention," Blake brought Jaune's attention back to her. "Ruby has always found a way to be fast friends with this team."

From the small twitch of her bow that Jaune saw, it seemed that Blake's hearing picked up something.

"Speaking about this team and our friends, they should be coming around the corner."

' _Haven academy students. It would be really cool to see what other students from different academies are.'_

"I wonder how long Jaune has today." Hearing a very familiar voice that was getting louder, Jaune could see a familiar shape emerging from the end of the hallway. "Hope he hasn't left- Hey, Jaune! Glad you're still here!"

"Hey, Ruby." Jaune smiled and waved his hand.

"Sup, Jaune." Yang was the next person to show up after Ruby. "Guess Blake's patience really did pay off. She really wanted to see you as soon as possible."

" _Talk_ ," Blake clarified Yang's statement. "I waited to ' _talk_ ' to Jaune again. Please, Yang, try to think what you say, I know it's hard, but I'm sure you'll develop your mental capacity if you continue to try."

The female Blonde didn't even try to talk back to her partner, she just stuck her tongue out at Blake.

"Oh! Jaune," Eyes filled with surprise at what she just thought of, Ruby stepped closer to jaune. "I'm so glad you out here right now and not in the middle of interviewing. I want you to meet some new friends I made here!"

' _Man, she's really quick to make friends. I lucked out with Gwen and Harry, but Ruby has so many friends here I would think that she was starting her own clique.'_

"The students from Haven, right?" Ruby looked surprised at how Jaune already knew that fact, so he told her how he got the information. "Blake told me before you walked around the hallway. I would love to see them, I mean, not only do I get to see Beacon student, but I also getting to know Haven academy too? Now that sounds like a good way to end today's visit."

"That's great! Hold on, I'll go tell them! There kind of staying stilling at the main hall talking to the rest of our group, but I'll go get them right now!"

Zooming back to the dorm's main hallway, the secret hero used the moment to talk to his last interviewee.

"Before she gets back, do you mind if we can hold off a little bit longer? Just a couple of minutes to indulge my curiosity about other Huntsmen academies."

"It's fine, Jaune." The bronze and gold armored Huntress gave Jaune a nof of understanding. "To be honest with myself as well, my team also haven't had time to know Ruby's new friends, so I'm perfectly fine to wait a little longer."

"He's right here, you guys." Jaune could here Ruby talking to her new friends.

"Looks like we get to see who Ruby's new friends are." Moving his body to make a proper introduction.

' _Well, like mom always said: strangers are friends you haven't met yet.'_

Smiling at the sight of Ruby, he can see she was motioning whoever was following her to pick up the ace. Wanting to get his introduction out of the way, Jaune walked forward with his smile still on his face and got ready to see who he was about to meet.

Jaune's smile soon morphed into one of shock when he caught sight of three very familiar faces. Though each one wore a façade of friendliness and harmlessness, they still couldn't hide who they truly are.

How could they, when the person they fought a few weeks back was standing right before them.

* * *

"I'm so happy we get to meet another of Ruby's friends." The girl with dark skin and green short hair spoke as if she was _actually_ happy to meet him. Jaune feels the same way about her too, she did try to kill the first time they met so Jaune's resentment still lingers. "The name's Emerald, so happy to meet you."

Jaune instinctively moved an inch back as he saw Emerald raise her right arm, thinking that she might have pulled out a weapon if he wasn't careful. Sure, his spider sense wasn't picking up any serious threats, but the small pulses emanating from the back of his skull still warned him that the people in front of him were dangerous.

"S-sorry, I'm sorry!" His face began to blush from embarrassment when everyone noticed how he reacted to Emerald reaching out for a handshake. "I was just… caught off guard."

"From a handshake?" Emerald raised her right eyebrow. "Don't worry! I know we may look scary, but we here to fight Grimm, nor the people we're protecting!"

' _Tell that to Tukson, the book store guy... or ME when you tried to shoot me!'_

Having no choice but to shake her hand, Jaune grabbed Emerald's hand, gave it a single shake, and retracted his hand back to his side.

' _Well, she's real and not one of her illusions. That's reassuring.'_

"Here, let me introduce you to my team!" Moving to Jaune's left side, Emerald started with the only male in her team. "This guy over here, is Mercury."

"Yo," The grey-haired boy known as Mercury gave a two fingered salute to the Blonde boy. "Heard you're a reporter, does that mean I'll get famous if I'm in your little vlog?"

"It-it's an article about… Huntsmen and... stuff…" Jaune began to mumble, not up to the task of talking to the people who tried to kill him.

"Sorry if Mercury is being insensitive, Jaune." She gave him an apologetic look but glared at her partner. "We don't want to upset any of Ruby's friend's, _right_?"

Nodding his head to Jaune, the Huntsman-in-training from Haven apologized.

"Sorry if I disrespected you."

' _Wish you said sorry when you literally kicked my head in to the floor'_

"Don't worry about it, Mercury." The hero in secret shook his head to brush away any misunderstands between them. "I don't want anyone to kick someone in the head- Down! I mean, I don't want anyone to kick someone when they're down. So, you don't need to say sorry."

' _You, Mercury, are the first criminal to ever apologize to me. Even if I still can't forget that you literally kicked my head into the floor.'_

Satisfied that her teammate averted his mistake and almost making a scene, the criminal in hiding started to introduce her third member.

Though to everyone around Jaune, this will be officially the first time meeting her, cause the actual first time Jaune met this woman was thanks to Emerald using her semblance to distract him while Mercury and her escaped.

"And this is our team leader-" Emerald was about to speak her name, only to be stopped when their third member chose to speak on her behalf.

"It's nice to mean you, Jaune." Even though the hybrid hero was prepared to know who she was, he was still shaking at how smooth and gentle this girl-no, _woman's_ voice sounded. "I hope you're enjoying Beacon, I know we are."

' _Darn it,'_ Jaune begrudgingly started to get a bit anxious at how she was looking at him. _'I knew she was hot when she was just an illusion, but I kind of hoped she had the voice that didn't sound like those women you pay to hear when talking through the scroll.'_

"Name's Cinder," The leader of those two crazy teens revealed her name. Going so far as to even lift her well-manicured hand in front of Jaune. "I can't wait to see what you'll talk about when you publish the next newspaper from the Bugle."

Suddenly, memories of Cinder, fire brimming from her eyes and hands as she commanded the power of flame to burn him came back into the front of his brain. Just so he was reminded that even if the Cinder he was fighting was a fake, the real one is standing right in front of him and wouldn't hesitate if he chose to tell his friends who these people really are.

"I hope my team and I get to become friends with you too." Jaune could have sworn her eyes gave just a flicker of flames, yet moving his sights around him only he seemed to notice.

Being as calm and collected as possible, the reporter reached to grab her hand and proceeded to shake. As he did so, he couldn't stop his thoughts from reminding him that she could use this moment to turn him to ash, now that he was within her grasp.

So, like usual, Jaune instinctively fell back on his defense mechanism when he gets involved with dangerous situations such as this.

Say the first thing that came to mind.

"You're hot." He said, yet what his mind was really talking about was this. _'Your hand is hot.'_

It wasn't surprising what happened next.

* * *

 **[Pyrrha Nikos]**

"Well," Jaune scribbled down her name on his notes, completely acting like nothing was out of the ordinary. "That was pretty wild back there, don't you agree?"

"Y-yes it was." The huntress still held some blush to her cheeks as her eyes met with Jaune's and quickly looked down. "I... I never expected that from happening. You are very vocal about things, Jaune."

 _'Oh don't mind my rambling that happened just a couple of minutes ago.'_ Jaune can still remember some of them RWBY and both of Cinder's cronies reacting to Jaune's so ' _complement_ ' to their boss. _'I usually do that when I'm literally staring death right in the face. Happy to see that others don't see that way.'_

"Well, guess I can't help myself." Jaune rubbed the back of his head. "This place is practically a school for not just Huntsmen, but for those trying out to be the next top model. I can only count with one hand one non-super model in this school."

Jaune pointed his index finger right at him. "Me."

"Heh-Hmmf!" She stopped herself half way from Jaune's joke. "Really now, I never thought other people would think that."

"Pretty sure they wouldn't say that in front of you, but I guess that means I'm not most people." Jaune shrugged his shoulders, not really bothered by what he said in front of them.

How could he? When he's more concerned with the fact that Beacon has been infiltrated by killers pretending to be students.

 _'Seriously, I'm a good boy, I don't steal, kill, or litter and Beacon shuns me when I do the one bad thing which is forged papers. Yet, when **actual** bad people like Emerald, Mercury, and that fire lady do it, they get in? Where's the justice in that?'_

For now, what Jaune can only do is just be a reporter. He knows who they are, but his friends don't and that makes him scared if Ruby or Blake decides to confront them about this.

 _'Ruby might not believe what I say, she would probably ask them straight up with no hesitation. Blake on the other hand will most likely stalk them just to keep tabs on them just to have enough evidence to give to the headmaster.'_

A giant robot came to the forefront of his brain, that was soon changed with Blake and Sun running away from said robot.

 _'Yeah, I'm thinking too positive on Blake. She might just tell her team rather then the staff, would probably make things worst somehow. I don't want to think badly about her, but the best thing to do is keep it to myself. They're not hurting anyone, not yet, at least, so it's best to just act along for now.'_

"Um, Jaune, is something the matter?" The reporter snapped out of his thinking when Pyrrha talked. "Your face has that serious look Blake usually gets when news talks about Spider-Man and crime involving Roman. Please don't tell her that! We always see her make that face, but we don't want to call her out and make her feel embarrassed!"

"No, no, no!" He shook his head. "I won't tell her, I promise!"

"I was just, trying to remember what question I was going to ask you." He flipped through his notes and found what he was looking for. "Ok, here it is. I asked this to Ren, but he said to ask you since he thought it was best to ask you directly. It's mostly about your team dynamic, I know Ruby has three other teammates, but you only have three. Can you explain why?"

"Well," The bright red head tapped her foot. "I guess it just has to do with who I am. I'm sure Ren or Nora must have told you who I am."

"No, not really." Jaune answered as he tapped the end of his writing tool on his notepad. "I just know your name and that's about it." He raised an eyebrow at her. "Why? Is there something I should know."

"Oh-OH, um!" She looked surprised for some reason. "No, there's nothing really. What I meant is, um," Pyrrha looked like she was about to turn beat red with how she was struggling to tell Jaune something. "Cause I'm the only first year student without a partner!"

"Without a partner?" He gave her a quizzical look. "How come you don't have one?"

"It was cause I was able to finish the exams without needing help from someone." She frowned. "The staff was thinking about dropping me, but with my credentials showing my history in training they decided to give me a shot here."

 _'She's able to get in cause of how much she trained? That's impressive, yet I feel that there should be more. I mean, are the staff here in Beacon going to be that lenient on one student that didn't get a partner in the exams? Yes, yes they would, cause one of my friends outside is two years younger and was able to enroll in a school that have seniors old enough to drink.'_

"That must make you the center of attention, huh? I mean, I'm sure Ruby gets her fair share of people talking about her since she skipped a grade or two. So, you guys have something in common, you know?"

"Yes, I agree." Her feet started to slow down from the tapping. "Though, I feel like she doesn't have to worry about that thanks to her partner and her sister being there for her. I don't want to sound ungrateful for all this though, cause if I decided to try next year then I wouldn't have met Nora and Ren. They're my best friends and I feel like I would be more miserable if the same thing happens a second time."

Writing some of his thoughts on paper, Jaune's mind kept getting more questions then answers coming from her.

 _'She's just like Ruby, both were given some privilege thanks to the headmaster. But, something bothers me about her not having a partner. Even if she's good, that doesn't mean that Beacon would break their rules that easily. I should ask someone about this, maybe Blake later today or some other time.'_

"Let me guess, you're not very social around others?" He asked her. "Cause I strongly understand how you feel. This is my first time ever being in a major city in Vale, so when I got here I was overwhelmed with how many people live here. Most of my life I loved in Ansel, a small close knit village and you could already guess how a teen from the sticks felt like a fish out of water."

"Back to the main topic though, can you at least say that with the help of your team and friends that this place is starting to become bearable?"

"Yes, I have relied so much on my team for aid at times."

"You mean like training and studying?" Jaune could imagine that Ren was the smarts while Nora held the muscle. "It can't be helped, I'm sure the seniors of this school are way stronger and you all are still first years. It'll take time to get string and be on there level, I mean, everyone here starts off on even footing."

"Yeees," She dragged out the word. "As well as other things. However, for some small inconveniences I have come across, I stand my ground when I chose to partake in Beacon. This place is where every student from different kingdoms try their luck to enroll and I was just one of the few who made it in. My friends have come across criminals some veteran Huntsmen dare not even go against and stopped his acts of crime every chance they get. People lose sight on what matters when their life of comfort is at risk and their main action is to usually blame others who are part of whatever is causing them distress. I have no doubt in my mind that it could have been worse if Huntsmen didn't have a buffer to shield them even more bad rumors."

"Spider-Man." Jaune guessed, though he was sure he was right. "You're saying he's protecting Huntsmen? I find it hard to believe since more people are putting more favor on him then you guys."

"In one way of looking at it, but you also need to look at it in a different angle. People always likes a single person defying the odds and coming out on top, thinking that person could take on anyone and causing challengers to not even try to take their chances. Civilians are worried that Huntsmen can't keep them save and are now putting more stock into Spider-Man."

 _'Yeah, I can see how that works. Like booting some old model for something new and better.'_ The hero imagined him on top of a tall pedestal while being compared to some nameless Huntsman standing on a lower platform. "That's an odd way to look at that."

"W-well, one of my friends works for an agency that specializes in media and the like. I just hope that Spider-Man won't get complacent with where he's standing. The farther he goes up, the longer he falls down."

 _'That's not foreboding what so ever,'_ Flipping to the next page to write more, Jaune only stared at the backing of his notepad showing that it has no more blank pages. "Sorry, Pyrrha, I haven't really asked you questions and I'm already out of pages. You think we can try again next time?"

"I would like that, Jaune." Getting up from her chair, the leader of Nora and Ren gave the reporter her usual polite smile. "Talking to you was very enjoyable. I liked what we discussed and I hope you do well in your article."

 _'We just talked about some stuff that was kind of related to what I was hired to do. Does she mean she just liked that we just talked about Beacon? I do feel like I didn't really put much in asking more about her. Then again,'_ Memories played out involving Pyrrha fumbling with her words when talking about herself. _'He_ _r name might be more than she's letting on. I should look in to that, oh! is this what reporters feel like when they have a scoop!? That's pretty cool!'_

"You know, Nora asked me if ever I'm done with all this reporter stuff," The secret hero got on his feet from leaning on the desk. "That I might hang with you all afterwards. I would really enjoy knowing you guys more, if your ok with that."

"I think I would like that," She smiled. "Since we're done, then we should probably tell Ruby and her team that they can get back in their room now."

Jaune paused mid motion of opening the door for her, then quickly moved his hand to opened the exit door her Pyrrha to leave.

"Can you tell them to wait a bit longer?" He asked her a small favor. "I got to look over some of my notes. I know, I know, it's their room, but can you see if they can give, me some time?"

Choosing to help Jaune have some privacy, the leader of two excused herself leaving only Jaune to process the information he got today.

"MMFFFFF!" How he processed it was by clasping his two hands over his mouth and bellowed out a muffled scream. "Ok, I'm better now."

Taking a seat, the young spider placed his note taking gear in his bag and then focused on his other task as Spider-Man.

 _'I'm not sure how hard this will be without getting them involved. No, scratch that, what I mean is it's going to be harder **when** they get involved. The girls already have some unwanted attention on them, so I don't want to make it worse.'_ The web head rubbed both sides of his temples. _'Emerald and Mercury hit hard and fast, plus I'm sure if I fight the real Cinder then I'm positive it's going to be an uphill battle.'_

 **(SIGH~)** He let out a tired sigh, rubbing his eyes out of habit. "It's going to be one of those days it seems."

"Oh well, like Pyrrha said," Slapping his cheeks to snap him out if his mild funk, Jaune propped himself up and headed out to the hallway. As it stands, it was best to just let them act their part, for the small victory of knowing there at Beacon is still something to celebrate. "I'm not just protecting people nor I'm not just protecting Huntsmen either. I'm protecting my friends."

"And with the enemy literally unaware that I'm here," Pulling out his scroll, Jaune scrolled through his contacts and stopped when he found the name he was looking for. "There's no way I'm letting such an opportunity like this go to waste."

* * *

 **Bam! Here it is! The surprise twist of this chapter! Sure, you guys thought that this would just be some boring chapter of filler, but no! I just surprised you with new characters that aren't new to Jaune but can't tell that to his friends since that will cause trouble!**

 **I'm sure most of you guys knew that this was coming, I mean, in Vol 2 Ruby encountered Cinder and her killer team, but before that it was Jaune who met them first! I wanted them to get introduced again since this is mainly focused on the plot of RWBY, so I hope this little cliff hanger will cause you guys to get more impatient when the next chapter gets out!**

 **Also, when I thought of Ren and Nora talking to Jaune and why they wanted to be here, I felt that it would be too soon if they told him they are orphans. I feel like they will only tell him that when they truly trust him, but with how they answered Jaune's questions, Jaune can already connect the dots on the history of the two. He just doesn't want to bring it up or ask since that would be insensitive.**

 **Weiss, yes, I kind of didn't put much progress for her, but like Jaune said he can't really compare her to everyday people. Out of everyone in team RWBY, Weiss's only relatable thing is her father prioritizing work over family. Plus, she knows how to talk to reporters due to her being so famous for the SDC, so of course she won't answer personal stuff not relating to why she's here. That's why she was starting to get angry when jaune was pushing for questions not about her.**

 **Now, back to Ren and Nora, both I had planned as for them to mostly tell Jaune why there in Beacon and what it's like in class. Ren mostly told Jaune why both he and Nora chose Beacon, while Nora told Jaune how the staff in Beacon teaches their students. This is where Jaune sees the differences when dealing with normal students and Beacon students. Both are young and can't control their emotions, but normal teens usually have tailor made weapons on them the whole time their in school. I wanted to show that glaring flaw, that Beacon students could potentially lose it and would use their weapons, even if the school takes precautions, they don't really take into detail for the students semblance. I mean, we all see how even without weapons, student can still cause damage like the first episode in Vol 2.**

 **As for the talk with Pyrrha, yes, some might thinks it's random and also not really on the mark with questions for the Bugle. But, don't forget, that Jaune is on his first day and is rather more reclined to his friends. I'm sure most of you were hoping for something more between the two, but they just met and she hasn't been fully honest since she's somewhat hesitant with reporters. Though, since Jaune said he doesn't know her, she can at least start trusting him, but she still holds her doubts.**

 **For the introduction of Cinder and her crew, it was a long time coming and I thought it could change the pace for Jaune and his motivation to figure out what's happening in Vale. I felt like it was either show them now, since it would already be a likely chance he might see them on any other day, or at the dance arc which I thought would be too late in the story for them to finally show up.**

 **Anyway, now that this has been out I think it's time to get the ball rolling for the next chapter, so I hope you guys will enjoy the next.**

 **Hope you guys enjoyed this, I know most think that this wasn't worth the wait, but don't worry I'll make sure to get the ball rolling once more.**

 **Like always, I like to thank my Beta reader who you guys should check, but before that make sure to like, fav, and comment on what you guys thought about this chapter. Thank you.**

* * *

 **Omake: Happy Birthday Mankind!**

* * *

The year... does not matter anymore, not after the fifth machine war that has ravaged the entirety of earth.

"Come on, sister!" A girl with straight red hair adorned with a flower on her right ear smiled at her sibling that looked just like her. "We don't want to miss this special day!"

"Yeah, yeah, you told me the same thing 2 minutes ago." Answered a girl that was identical to the first, but was sporting a more wilder hairstyle and the same flower on her left ear. Gave her other half a smile at understanding why her twin sister was acting so out of place.

"Besides, I'm the one carrying all this stuff back to camp." The one with the wild red hair motioned to their make shift cart that had sacks full of items they have scavenged from the surrounding ruins of some unknown city. "Maybe some help can make this go way faster, so we won't have to miss the important day?"

"Oh, sorry for letting you do all the work, Devola." Rushing to her twin's side, Devola's twin sister did her part and applied her own strength to push the crat faster.

"I can't blame you, Popola." Devola gave Popola a guilty look. "I'm also exited for today, I'm sure almost everyone in camp right now is getting ready for what's going to happen today!"

As the twins continued their treck down the broken road of an nameless street, the two could be considered so out of place considering everywhere around them is endless ruble of a dead city.

It has suffered many losses through out history, but humanity was not yet ready to experience strange creatures that came from the sky and bring death and disease upon man.

Yet, like always humans have found ways to adapt and overcome loss and hardship, finding ways to cope and move on with life. Some would say that their life was not as real as it was before the massive destruction happened, yet none could do anything knowing that life was already too small to consider more riskier options.

Still, what was left of humanity made the most out of it and for some time, humans were putting themselves back together.

"I see the camp!" Popola shouted with joy and used her right index finger to point at the location. "Let's go, Devola!"

"Don't have to tell me twice!" Following her sister's lead, both siblings doubled their speed and closed the distance between themselves and their home. "Finally we're back!"

"And not a moment too soon," Popola could already see some small shops vacant with their owner no longer in sight. "They must be crowding around to the only screen working right now. Bet the boss is barking out orders to get them all in line, so everyone can see it starting."

"Hmm-hm." Nodding her head, Devola scanned around to find their section of camp. Spotting where they usually sell their items, Devola and Popola parked their cart near their space and started to stop off their goods. "Hope the parts we got will be useful for everyone."

Letting out all the contents, what was shown was chips, circuits, wires, and other electronic based components used for machines.

"I think some of this will be nice for those who were damaged from patrols." Popala picked up a random chip and examined it. "This one should help with increasing one's strength, so we could get some more currency if we find more in this pile."

Indeed, humanity found ways to survive that dreaded sickness, yet a new crisis soon reared it's head in the form of extraterrestrial life. These enemies from space sent droves of machines to wipe out humanity, yet even with such numbers over whelming them mankind still adapted.

Their solution to the machines sent by their alien adversaries were androids, designed in humanity's image that battled the machines to a stalemate. The first war waged on for so long, it was hypothesized that it would last far longer then anticipated. Causing the last remnants of mankind to make one last effort of surviving was by leaving earth and living on the moon.

leaving their creations, Popola and Devola for example, to battle this never ending war with the machines. Earth is entirely inhabited by machines and androids now, with a few exceptions being animals that survived both the sickness that came from a different dimension and the multiple battles both sides clashed in.

"I don't want to sort them, I want to go and see if it's starting!" This time, it was Devola's turn to be impatient. "I don't want us to be in the back, we might not be able to see much."

"Then it's a good thing your getting a chance to be in the front row." That wasn't Popola that spoke, rather, it was a third figure standing in front of them.

"Anemone!" Devola and Popola said simultaneously.

"Come on you two!" She smiled, a very rare thing for the leader of the camp. Yet, for this day of the year, even a hardened veteran in the war of the machines can relax for a moment. "It's about to start. Hope you guys don't mind cramped spaces, cause everyone is jammed in to watch."

Leaving their belongings where they lay, the twins followed their leader to the main base of operations where they can see almost everyone from camp trying their best to make enough room for everyone to see.

"Follow me and stay close." Anemone told the two as she made her way to the front of the large crowd with both girls close behind her. Reaching the other side of the crowd, the boss of this camp asked one of her men an update. "How much longer?"

"Your in luck," Said a man who was tweaking some wires behind the semi large screen. He looked like everyone else around him, yet the one things most noticeable about him was his old leg showing rusted and almost broken android parts. "It's starting in 20 seconds."

Seeing the small window getting smaller, Anemone tilted her head at the twins to find a good place to sit down. "Ok! Everyone, shut up and calm down! It's starting!"

Not a single sound was made when all the androids were told that the screen was about to turn on. None of them dared to make another sound, lest they were forced out and not able to see such an important even about to unfold only once a year.

Moving her head to scan for anyone that could cause a disturbance, Anemone stepped out of the monitors way and took her seat next to the twins.

Just as the man with the old robotic leg said, 20 seconds were up and the screen flashed to life showing a very familiar symbol that was used by an elite group that defends the last humans living on the moon. YoRHa is that group and they alone are the one's who always release a video to earth for all androids to remind them why they fight.

What was shown on a screen was not the usual motivational speech, but rather it was showing a woman in white. Her appearance was that of a commander, riding crop in hand as she walked forward to gettinf the camera a closer look at her. The commander of YoRHa gave a presence of order and power, her uniform was clean and also showed the right places that complemented her body well.

"Fellow androids," The commander raised both arms the her sides. "Today, is a glorious day!"

No one in the camp said anything, yet everyone one can feel the excitement for what's about to happen.

"Every day, we fight our enemies, not knowing when it could be our last." The woman holding the riding crop sounded depressed, showing everyone that even the strongest of veterans have their ups and downs. Then, like it never happened, her face no longer held defeat, rather it held hope. "But, today is not those days! For today, we celebrate!"

Switching to a different camera, what was shown made every single android who was sitting in front of a screen clapped for joy.

For what was being shown was their reason to fight, to die, and to hope that their sacrifice will be one step closer for their creators to come home.

In the center of every camp's monitor scattered around the entire world was a human, a being that gave them a purpose for existing. That said human, wearing a party hat was sitting in front of a table that had a luscious cake signifying a most sacred human tradition.

A birthday.

"Happy birthday." Said the leader of YoRHa, her left hand flat on her chest and what came next out of her held firm belief and conviction. "Glory to mankind!"

"..Glory to mankind!" Shouted one of the androids within the large group. Like a trail of dominos, more and more androids soon chanted the same thing, chanting their creators as they celebrate the one day within the year to remember that this war was worth fighting for.

"Glory to mankind!"

"Glory to mankind!"

"GLORY TO MANKIND!"

* * *

[The Bunker; Unknown location]

"Glory to mankind!" Said one of the YoRHa androids as he watched with glee at the sight of what was displayed on the T.V.

"9S," A female's voice was heard from behind him. "Pay attention to what your doing."

"Oh!" The android known as 9S swiveled his head back to his current objective. "Sorry, Ma'am! Just got carried away! It is a special day, afterall."

"It's understandable," The Android 9S was making a scan on was a woman who laid on her bed as she stared at her ceiling and waited for her check up to be done. "It's only once a year."

"That's what makes human birthday's so special." The male android started to drone on about humanities culture. "They only do this once a year and never do the same thing! They constantly change and it's never by design!"

"All the more reason to get our feet on actual dirt to get rid of these machines." The woman said in the same tone of voice just a few seconds ago, neutral and lifeless. "Am I done?"

Doing one quick scan, the 9S model gave her a nod of approval and stepped away for his superior to start her day. "Your in peak performance."

"Good," Wasting no more time, the battle ready android lifted herself off her bed and walked out her room. "I'll be heading out soon, make sure you get your gear ready."

"But, but," 9S sounded distressed. "It's such a special day! The commander did say personal can take a moment to rest."

"It's already been a moment," She turned to look back at the scanner model. "The machines don't take holidays, so let's go."

"Yes, ma'am," He sighed in defeat, only to look straight at his superior with a stone cold look. Sticking out his chest, 9S placed his left hand flat on his torso and spoke YoRHa's signature phrase. "Glory to mankind."

Standing at attention, the battle model android placed her hand flat on her chest and spoke the same conviction and hope as the screen showing the human blowing out the candles.

"Glory to mankind."

* * *

 **A/N: I got a sudden idea from this after playing Nier: Automata and read several fanfics about this game, so I got curious and decided to make this an omake... or maybe more in the future.**


	30. Chapter 30

**Disclaimer: Brotherhoof12 does not own RWBY or Spider-Man. These two belongs to their respective, late creators.**

* * *

 **(Chapter 30: Know thine** **enemy)**

* * *

"Thank you so much for your help," Jaune said to both teams who talked to him today. "It was nice to hear all of your thoughts and stories. I can't wait to visit again tomorrow."

He wasn't lying either, Jaune really enjoyed his time getting to know them. When coming here, Jaune was nervous and anxious at being in Beacon due to some emotional regrets still lingering within him. Yet, now, he seemed eager rather than apprehensive at coming back to the place that denied him enrollment.

"We're happy to hear you like this place, Jaune." Ruby told the tall, male blonde, walking besides him as she made sure to keep pace due to the height difference. "Next time, when you come back, we can try and show you some of the cool places Beacon has to offer! It'll be great!"

"I bet." He smiled, not feeling any negative emotions when Ruby mentioned her school. "This place does seem like it has a lot to see, do you think I could take pictures of some of the areas that might interest me?"

"I don't think that will cause any issues." The red hooded Huntress pressed her index finger under her chin. "I don't think the teachers will mind if you take harmless photos. I know one girl who does stuff like that. She's a grade above us and photography is her hobby."

"That's cool," He listened, looking around the large front lawn of the academy. "This place could be used for a great background setting, maybe I can take photos of you and your team sometime, you interested?"

What was once the afternoon was now evening in the kingdom of Vale and the young spider was being escorted by Ruby and her friends. As much as Jaune wanted to stay a little bit longer and enjoy some more time with his new friends, he must also remember that he still needs to go to school tomorrow.

Which was why he was planning to leave before the sun was replaced with the shattered moon. Aunt May already knows where he is and would understand why he was almost home late, but a part of him still doesn't want her to worry.

' _Ok, I may sound like a hypocrite of trying to not make her worry, since I always go out at night and risk my life dealing with thugs and other rotten people. I still at least want to come back home on time, even if it's just a means to sneak out later at night.'_

"Sure, I'd liked that." Ruby agreed. "I'm sure the rest of my team, well, maybe not Blake, would like to do that sometime."

"Thanks, Ruby." Getting a smile from her as a response, the two fell into comfortable silence as both of them walked down the main cement walkway leading to the main gate.

With today almost over, it was decided that it was a good time as any to stop. All of them needed their sleep for their respective schedules regarding their education, so with a few handshakes and good byes, Jaune made his way out of the dorms.

Not wanting to have him wander alone again, Ruby herself volunteered to come along with him. Even if he knew where to go to leave, Jaune didn't mind the company leading to the present with both just having a friendly chat.

"It's no trouble at all, Jaune." She gave him a friendly nudge with her shoulder. "I was actually hoping we could have more time doing more than just doing that whole talking one at a time thing. Really wanted to show you where we keep our lockers, it's so cool! There're rockets that can go wherever we need them to be!"

"Rocket propelled school lockers?" The disguised hero chuckled. "That doesn't sound very safe, or very responsible if any student decides to use them for other reasons."

' _Man, if my school had lockers like Beacons, Flash would make it a practical hobby to shove me in mine and see how far my locker can go. Might even make it a national sport for bullies, might call it: Rocket Nerd or something like that.'_

"No," Ruby denied Jaune's statement. "I haven't heard anyone trying to attempt it. I mean, when you have someone scary like Ms. Goodwitch overseeing disciplinary actions, students here don't really want to push their luck."

"She's that scary?" Jaune sounded unconvinced.

"Meeting her the first time was pretty cool though!" She sounded excited, ignoring the fact that she said her teacher was scary. "She was using her Semblance to do all sorts of crazy stuff, like this and that!"

Ruby couldn't really describe it in detail, so her best way was reenacting that night by making the same poses her teacher made while also making sound effects.

"Get out of town, you can't be serious!" Seeing her make those poses and making a serious face like Ms. Goodwitch whenever she fights made the secret Spider laugh. "Please stop, that's too funny! I can't believe she does that!"

"It's all true." Ruby stopped pretending to be her combat teacher. "Her weapon is a riding crop and she makes these grand gestures that causes everything to fly around her."

"Like magic?"

"No, no, it's not magic." She laughed at how silly that sounded. "Her Semblance is the cause of it, she just uses the riding crop as the catalyst to help her direct it to where she needs it the most."

' _That sounds super close to what magic is like.'_ Jaune thought to himself. "Well, I would like to meet her and see for myself what she's like. She sounds pretty awesome with all those neat tricks you said she has."

"I'm honestly glad she wasn't here to see me acting like her." Ruby gave a sigh of relief. "Trust me, she'll treat you as a professional since you're a civilian working to help recover some lost faith to Beacon's reputation. However, if you were her student, she would not hesitate to give you extra time in the sparring ring and giving you extra lessons in fighting."

"You mean, like with other students?"

"No, with only her, and you can imagine how hard it is when she can just lift you around like a ragdoll." The scythe wielder's body shook either from fear of seeing first hand Ms. Goodwitch's work on other students or from experiencing it herself.

' _Noted, it just reinforces my claim that you shouldn't mess with wizards. I learned that from countless hours reading and watching shows about how picking a fight with them is a death wish.'_

Falling back to silence, the two young teens walked side by side and listened to the sound of crickets and cars driving off from the distance. They didn't mind that none were talking, it didn't feel awkward at all, both were fine just with how things are.

As they reached to the main exit, Jaune and Ruby looked at one another, and the first to talk was Jaune.

"You know, this may sound really confusing, but I feel like this is just like how we first met."

"What do you mean?" She asked out of curiosity.

"Remember how we met? It was when I was working, and you walked in?" She nodded her head at remembering that time. "Well, I feel like the roles are reversed with me entering Beacon and meeting you here. We both saw what it's like in each other's natural habitat."

"Yeah, I can see that both are similar." Ruby smiled at Jaune's comparison. "I never once thought of getting a full-time job like you, though, since I can remember my main goal was being a Huntress."

' _Mine too. Well, not being a huntress, but a male equivalent of one.'_ Jaune had to smile at his empty conviction. _'Geez, can't stop with this hang up of mine. I can't even enjoy this moment without some way of feeling sorry for myself.'_

Mistaking his smile for him listening, Ruby continued to talk.

"Since I was so determined to be a Huntress, I was trained by my uncle on how to wield my weapon. The same can be said with Yang, who was taught by our dad in hand to hand combat. We were so deep in our training that my sister and I didn't really have a lot of friends in our village."

"Your sister had a hard time getting friends?" Jaune said in disbelief. _'With confidence so big that she shows it on her sleeves… and chest… I find it hard to believe all of that.'_

"It's because no one else in Patch wanted to have their kids to be Huntsmen, they mostly relied on our dad and uncle to usually help keep the village safe. When we got into Signal was when Yang started to get popular, she was one of the most skilled students during her first year, while I was just still getting home schooled by my Uncle."

"He must be a great teacher if he taught you how to fight with your weapon." The hero wasn't lying, when he first saw her holding her own against a group of Roman's thugs, he was blown away at how easily she taken them all down so efficiently.

"Yeah," She crossed her arms behind her back and kick some pebbles out of bashfulness. "He's pretty cool, I was actually hoping he would be here, but he needed to do some errands out in town."

"Dang, if he was here I might have tried my luck and interview a veteran Huntsman." He had to make sure that the next time he gets back, Jaune would need to get a chance to see if he can meet Ruby's uncle. "Your uncle of yours sounds really reliable, I look forward if I ever get a chance to meet him in person."

"I'll message him you said that." Taking what Jaune said to consideration, the young Huntress-in-training looked above the sky turning into the night with the shattered moon coming to visibility. "You know, I always thought I would be here when I graduated from Signal, I just didn't expect it to come this soon."

"So, was Beacon your first choice?" Just for the sake of curiosity and not for the article, Jaune just asked questions he wanted to know for himself.

"It's been my first and only choice, why are you asking?"

"Cause since you told me about your family and how they're all Huntsmen, I'll tell you something about my family."

"About your family, Jaune?"

"Yup, the thing about my family is that half of them are Huntsmen." Jaune smirked, feeling prideful about his family. Even if he couldn't be like them, Jaune was still proud at his sisters and their accomplishments. "Half of my sisters are Huntsmen, and my dad and mom are too. Well, my mom had to retire from that line of work after giving birth to her eighth child, I suppose even some Huntresses have a limit."

"Pffff!" Ruby had air escape out of her lings after hearing how many kids his mother had. "Eight!? I've seen families with four or five at Patch, but eight!?"

"Yeah, she's a real octo mom!" Jaune couldn't help but laugh at her reaction, she wasn't the first to make the same face, Uncle Ben and Aunt May also failed to contain their befuddlement when he told them _. 'Or should I call her 'spider mom', instead? Kind of fits the number with me being Spider-Man.'_

"Anyway, half of my sisters are Huntresses and even a quarter of that portion trained and graduated from different Huntsmen academies. My point is why Beacon?"

' _I picked this place because it was the most popular in Vale and if I had the chance of enrolling here, then I could prove to not just myself but everyone who doubted me that I could be a Huntsmen.'_ It could have been somewhere else, even other kingdoms, but Jaune knew that at the time he was running on raw emotion when he decided to run away from home.

Ruby stared straight at Jaune, her face showing to sign of looking away. Then, just as their gazes were locked into each other, both broke away at the same time.

"My family came here as students." Ruby sets her eyes on the large clock tower-like building. "They told me how they got so strong was because Beacon was their best place to learn from. I felt like if I enrolled here, then I could get closer to them… to her… in some way."

"…Crap." He silently cursed, a rare occurrence whenever he feels like he royally screwed something up. "Ruby, if I said something that crossed the line with you, I didn't mean to-"

"Why would I feel offended?" Ruby asked in confusion. "It's fine, Jaune, it was an innocent question you didn't know and I was ok answering it."

She smiled at him.

"Besides, I'm here now, and I'm going to make my family proud by being the best Huntress Remnant has ever seen!" Gone was her solemn demeanor and her usual spunky and uplifting personality came in full bloom.

' _Wow,'_ Jaune felt a sudden tightness in his chest. _'Ruby holds so much inside, yet, she still finds a way to not let that drag her down. In fact, she's using that to fuel her goal to become a Huntress. Ruby Rose, you are amazing.'_

Ruby smiled, her silver eyes gleaming with determination as her statement suddenly wavered. Her sights moved from side to side, trying to not look a head while at the same time, her cheeks were getting pink.

"J-Jaune," She stuttered, her voice no longer holding the same confidence as before. "Are you ok? You've kind of been staring at me without saying anything."

"Huh?" Blinking, Jaune too, felt his face heat up when Ruby asked that. "S-sorry, Ruby, I-I was just really blown away by what you said."

"Jeez," She chuckled and gave Jaune a friendly punch on the shoulder, but the red tinge on her face still stayed. "You had me confused there for a moment."

"Yeah, guess I just can't assume you won't run out of surprises. I'll see you around, Ruby." Jaune waved his hand and started to leave through the main gate.

"See you later, Jaune!" Ruby did the same and waved her arm in the air. "I'll make sure to tell Emerald and her team to come a long too."

He didn't say anything when Ruby said she would invite those 'students' from Haven. Rather, Jaune just turned his head and gave her a smile to show he heard her.

Since the sun was no longer out, and he was a couple of feet away that Ruby didn't notice how the smile he was wearing was strained and forced.

' _God,'_ Getting enough distance between him and the academy, Jaune dropped his guard and allowed his pent-up fear and nervousness to come out. Surveying the area around him, the young hero made a detour at the back of some random building and started to change over to his suit. _'I hope this idea works out in the long run. Otherwise, it's going to blow up right in my face, either metaphorically or literally depending Cinder kills me or my friends.'_

* * *

 **[A couple of hours later]**

 _"Wow, Jaune, I can't believe you found them already."_ Whitley, also known as Iron Man, said to his new companion through the other side of the call.

Choosing to use the spider route rather than the Jaune route via walking and bus, the hybrid made it back to his home and was now in his room talking to Weiss' younger brother.

"You're telling me," Jaune groaned, placing his hand over his face and then dragging it back to his side. "The people who tried to kill me not too long ago are literally next door to your sister and my friends. Not next door specifically, but just a couple of room away, but you get my point that this is very bad."

Using his room as a personal calling spot, the secret hero wasted no time to call his only friend who shares Jaune's burden. Jaune also made sure to tell Whitley the progress involving his sister, since he planned to tell him after the day was over. Now, after seeing the criminals that let Marko go on a semi rampage in downtown Vale were now in Beacon, he decided that it was better to tell Whitley now than later.

 _"Can you give me anything noticeable about them?"_ He asked Jaune. _"I could try and look them up here where I'm more at home with my equipment. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure you can find enough evidence involving them yourself, but it'll take minutes for me if I know who I'm looking for."_

"Emerald," Jaune recounted the faces and names of the three that should be sent to jail. "She has light green hair, dark skin, and red eyes. A guy named Mercury who has short grey hair and light skinned."

 _"Do they have a last name?"_

"Uh," The blonde tapped the side of his head with his free hand. "Shoot, I never asked, and I think they never told me! Do you think it'll be odd if I just walk out the door tight now, ask them their full name, and then walk back in here that it may look odd?"

 _"Please don't."_ The young baron replied. _"I can cross reverence with what you have now, but you'd be surprised how common the names like Emerald and Mercury are in most parts."_

"How?" Jaune dropped his shoulders and made a confused look at what he just heard. "Never mind, don't answer. I feel like most Huntsmen I meet either have crazy sexy outfits, weird weapons that doesn't want to be just one thing, and oddly specific color choices."

 _"Can you tell me the third one? You said she was the boss of them, right?"_

"Yeah, I remember when I had that Emerald girl in a strong hold and asked who was in charge. She then answered by using her semblance to make me see an illusion."

 _"What does she look like?"_

"Hot," Jaune used the simplest answer to describe what Cinder was. "Both figuratively, and very literally a hot person, she can spew fire from her hands and can apparently make her eyes ignite with flames too. You know, how you always hear hell hath no fury like a woman scorned? Well, I'm pretty sure that meaning was made when people met Cinder."

 _"Ok, I get that she's scary, but I mean what is her appearance, Jaune."_ The rich genius clarified.

"Creamy, soft, and has none blemished skin," The spider hero recounted the details he saw from Cinder. "Long black hair that has no frays, hourglass figure that I can honestly say is so much better compared to the other knockouts staying in Beacon-"

' _Sorry, girls… ya'll are in the 9's, but Cinder is over 9,000…. degrees, because she uses fire.'_

 _"Yeah, I'm still confused here, Jaune."_ The blonde hero heard a faint noise that sounded like laughing. _"But are you describing to me a psychopath or a cosmopolitan cover girl?"_

"Come on, Whitley," He groaned. "Please, tell me you also see that every girl who's training to be a Huntress is undeniably attractive. I can't be the only one, I mean, I talked to more girls here than when I entered puberty in my village."

 _"No comment."_

"Uhhh," Jaune let out a dejected sigh. "This is new for me, Whitley. I thought this day was going to be normal, but now I think both my normal life and my superhero one is starting to come together."

 _"If it is, why don't you-"_ For some reason, Whitley didn't finish his sentence. _"Ugh, never mind."_

"What? What was it you're going to say?"

 _"Nothing, not relevant, moving on. Say, talking about your pay for your contribution today?"_

"I thought Mr. Stane was paying me."

 _"He is,"_ The Iron hero from Atlas admitted. _"However, I am also paying you as well."_

"Oh, Whitley, I don't want you to pay me." As much as he needed Lien, he wouldn't feel right asking someone, a person younger than him at that, to pay for a job he didn't fully complete. Plus, Jaune thought of him as a friend, someone who can understand both sides of Jaune's life and that's hard to come by when your secret is that you wear spandex and stalk the night. "Mr. Stane will pay, and I just started, and you're a-"

 **(~DING~DONG~)**

"Oh, what the hell?" Moving his attention to the sound of the noise coming from downstairs. Jaune wondered who could be this late.

"Jaune! A package is here for you!" She called. "It's from Mr. Schnee!" His Aunt sounded ecstatic. "What a sweet young man, come down here and see what he got you!"

"Ok!" He shout back. "I'm on my way!" Turning back to his scroll, he felt that the young baron timed this somehow. "You didn't."

 _"..."_

"Hey," Jaune imagined him on the other end of the call shrugging his shoulders.

 _"I felt like this was a good time to do it and this is also a thank you for the assist with lifting that huge metal junk off me. Not to mention stalling those monsters long enough for my systems to reboot."_

"Don't remind me." A cold shiver ran down the spider's back. "God, they're now the stuff of my nightmares! It's like those things came out of a children's fairy tail book, only twisted and scary cranked up to max 10. If I ever see another again in my lifetime, then that would be too soon."

Suddenly, Jaune could hear beeping sounds from his scroll, followed by some audible noises with Whitley's voice being muffled.

"Hey, Whitley?" Jaune asked. "You there?"

 _"Sorry, sorry, just got something on my end that needs to get settled."_ If Jaune focused hard enough, he could hear another person talking to Whitley. _"I'm just trying my hand on another project that got stuck in my head recently, it won't be done for a while, but I'm just too engrossed in seeing it made that I can't stop. So, I'll just get back to it, take care, thanks for the help, and I'll get back to you with the results."_

"Okay, bye, Whit-" Jaune couldn't finish his good bye as the only sound he was receiving was dialtone. "G-good talking to you.

' _Good start on superhero communications I guess.'_

Setting his device on top of his dresser, Jaune left his room and headed downstairs.

"Let's see what I got."

Now, in the living room, Jaune can see Aunt May sitting on the couch facing the TV with said package on the coffee table in the center of the room.

"I can't believe this, Jaune." His Aunt's interest in the Schnee's gift was visible to the young hero with how she started to take the box in her hands. "You only met him recently and he's already giving you something this soon. You must have really put a great impression on the young man."

With her nephew now here, Aunt May handed the box to him. The size wasn't much, only the same length as a shoe box. Yet, Jaune could feel the weight of the box being uneven.

' _Spider sense isn't really picking anything strange from this thing.'_ He tempted to trigger something in the package by shaking it. _'I know Whitley sent this, something I really wonder if he timed this coming here all along, but it pays to be careful sometimes.'_

Not putting any effort when he used just two fingers to pinch on the corner of the box and ripping the top open, Jaune pulled out what's inside.

"No way," The photographer let out a gasp of awe at what he was holding. "This is…"

"A camera." Aunt May tilted her head. "It looks very expensive."

"It sure is," The blonde was completely engrossed by this new model camera, taking in every detail in its design. "I've seen some good cameras that are way too pricy, but this one looks like it would make me save multiple checks just to get this baby."

Jaune remembered that the camera he bought had a cracked lens when Whitley gave it back to him after that A.I.M fiasco. Jaune honestly thought he would have to go back to the thrift store to get another one, but it seemed like the young Schnee thought of a better way to save Jaune the trouble.

Sleek, durable, and have several features that Jaune's old camera would never had made him feel like a kid opening a new toy from Christmas who was excited to play with his/her new gift.

"This will be great for taking shots from far away. Now, I don't have to worry about getting close, I can just stand where I am and zoom in and it'll feel just like I was right in front of my shot."

 _'Maybe I can try a far away shot, maybe a two, or three-story building that would show how small I am when I swing form web to web. I got to try some new angles next time I go out in patrols.'_

"Is there anything else, Jaune?" As much as she enjoyed seeing Jaune happy for hobbies such as these, should couldn't help but feel there should be more than just a camera. "It must still have some trinkets left, otherwise it couldn't be that thing alone."

"Right, right." Setting his new camera down in the living room table, Jaune started to take out pieces that were used to enhance the already impressive device. "Got memory cards, lenses, and a tri-pod! This is amazing! I can finally store more pictures and get better wide shots, and... oh."

"Hmm?" The way Jaune sounded gave Aunt May a peculiar look at what caused Jaune to stop his excited ranting. "Is something the matter, Jaune?"

Without saying anything, Jaune reached for what made him speechless and showed Aunt May.

"A shirt?" She said as she looked at the stark white sleeve shirt.

Putting the box back next to his new camera, Jaune used both hands and showed the shirt to his Aunt.

"AU?" What she's seeing just made her more confused.

Looking down at the shirt, Jaune smacked his forehead when he was showing the back of the shirt to his Aunt and fixed it by showing the front side this time.

"A university shirt!" She covered her mouth with her hands. "In Atlas no less, oh, Jaune!"

Closing the space between them, Mrs. Parker wrapped her arms around the young Arc and upper body.

"This is happening so fast!" Her emotions were overwhelming her. "You're so close to the end of this year, you'll be a senior in Midtown high, and then you'll start looking into which college to apply for, but it seems that you don't have to worry!"

"I-I mean," Jaune wanted to get out of Aunt May's grasp, but he didn't want to ruin this moment and just let Aunt May think that it's going to happen. "It's going to be weird not seeing Harry or Gwen when I go to Atlas, but I'm more worried about you."

"Don't worry, dear," She looked up to him and stared at him with her teary eyes. "We both know that this was going to happen, well, not the part where a Schnee comes along, but we both know that you will have a good future. Look at you now, no longer having that vacant sad look, but one with hope and determination that paid off! Don't waste this opportunity, take it, and don't regret the choices you made that lead you to this future."

"Ah... yeah." Balling up the shirt, Jaune shoved it in the box including the rest of the stuff that was sent to him. "I'm going upstairs to set this somewhere in my room."

"Ok, Jaune! You have a good night, and if you get the munchies, we still have some leftovers in the fridge."

"Goodnight, Aunt May." Jaune said as he walked up the stairs and towards his room.

Entering his room, Jaune wasted no time with his mail and dumped out all the contents on his bed.

"Glad Aunt May didn't see this in the box."

Scattered among the contents that Jaune haven't shown Aunt May was a model that resembled his earlier web shooter. It looks the same, only this one looked to be built with better material than his original one.

"I've been swinging around with only one web shooter," Jaune picked up this new and improved one. "It felt weird only having one on my wrist, guess now I have a matching set. Though, I find it scary how Whitley made this with only seeing it just a few times when I used mine at the forest. Guy's scary smart to make something like this so soon."

Wanting to see if the size was right, Jaune flipped the web shooter to latch around his arm only to see a piece of folded paper tapped on the inside of the metal band.

"I wonder what's on this thing," Peeling the tape off to read the letter, Jaune unfolded the parchment and read what was written. "It's from Whitley."

 **"'I hope you like the gifts, mostly the camera due to one you owned is currently broken. How's your Aunt, by the way? I'm sure she liked that shirt I added into the box."**

' _Oh yeah, she was practically euphoric when she saw that one. Was that to cover up the web shooter or am I actually set on a college?'_

Wanting to know more, Jaune continued to read.

 **"'I'm not going to lie, the camera, the web shooter, and even the shirt signifies how I'm taking this team up seriously. I know you said that you don't want me to do this, but knowing that we both have our interests regarding our family safe from harm, I feel like this is necessary. Hope you like them, and I hope you like Atlas when you come over after you finished high school.'"**

' _Huh, guess I really did get a scholarship. That's neat.'_

 **"'P.S. I promise you that there is nothing else in this box.'"**

Dropping the new web shooter on the bed, Jaune checked to see if Whitley might have added something despite the note. Just as he expected, he could see a slip of paper caught in the folds of the bottom cardboard box. Pulling the paper to see what it was, Jaune's sees that it isn't just some paper, but a paycheck with a lot of zeros.

Face scrunched in annoyance, Jaune looked at the letter to see if he missed anything and when he flipped it over he saw a small message at the bottom of the paper.

 **"'Dear, Jaune. I lied about that last part.'"**

Snorting out a puff of air, Jaune put back the new camera, the shirt, but left the check and the new web shooter out of the mail.

' _Might as well check this in tomorrow. Since it's here I might as well be thankful that Lien really isn't an issue anymore.'_ Grabbing his costume under his bed, Jaune opened his case to retrieve his other web device. _'Feels good to have a pair now, though I wonder what other toys Whitley is making.'_

"Jaune, dinner's ready!" Aunt May shouted to alert her tenant that it's time to eat.

"Questions for later," Jaune dropped his spider gear back in the case, placed it under his bed, and left his room. "Food now! I'm on my way!"

Later that night, Jaune made his usual rounds as Spider-Man, watching over the people as their protector. Taking down two-bit thugs and gangsters who wander the streets for easy targets, all the while enjoying the nice feel of a new web shooter and a new camera.

* * *

"Dad!" Harry Osborn called out his father's name. "Mom said dinner's ready!"

"…."

Harry sighed. "Guess it's one of those meetings he has on his computer again." Leaving the living room, Harry walked to where his father's study room is.

Reaching the solid oak door that is his father's private study, Harry pounded his fist on the door to get his father's attention.

"…"

About to try a second time, Harry stopped mid swing when his father pulled open the door and stuck his head out. His stern and cold stare causing the young Osborn to lower his arm and placed it back to his side.

"Harry?" Norman looked surprised to see his son, then just as he was caught off guard, his features schooled itself back to his usual cold stone self. "I heard you the last time, but I'm in the middle of something."

"W-well, dad, I just wanted to let you know that mom has dinner ready and I was getting you."

"I see, well, I know now and will be there shortly, thank you, son." Norman was about to close the door only for Harry to place a hand to stop it from closing. "Is there anything else you need to tell me, son?"

Now on the spot, Harry took a breath to calm his nerves and spoke another thing that he's been planning to do at school.

"Dad, I signed up to try out football at school."

Norman's uninterested gaze on his son turned to interest when he heard Harry say he's trying a full contact sport.

"Really?" Harry couldn't help but notice a small smile on his father's face. "When does try out starts?"

"Soon, before the highschool dance," Not wanting to let this opportunity go, Harry continued to tell his dad. "I plan to join the football team, Jaune is also joining."

"Jaune, you say?" That seemed to get Norman's attention. "Tell me more when we're at the table, I'll be done here in a few minutes."

"Yes, sir!" Smiling that he sees his dad approve of his decision, Harry walked back to the kitchen.

Looking at his son until Harry was no longer in view, Norman Osborn closed the door and locked it, making sure no one will disturb him from his task at hand.

"Football," Norman rolled that word in his mouth. "Haven't seen Harry that interested in sports since he was just a child, yet, now he wants to try sports this late in highschool? Then again, if Jaune is trying football, then I'm sure my son somehow roped Jaune into Harry's scheme."

Sitting back in his luxurious chair, Norman went back to combing though files in his computer ontop of his also luxurious as well as very expensive desk. He wasn't lying to his son, Norman is saving his work, though the work he was working on wasn't in the legal side of things.

"Flint Marko," The rich tycoon pressed a key on his cardboard that widened a mug shot of Sandman on the computer screen "Man won the lottery yet lost it all the next day. What a loser."

Hitting another set of buttons, Norman's computer switched to a live feed of Marko sitting in a jail cell. After the fiasco that happened in downtown, the council made a unanimous decision to pool their resources into making a cell that would contain Flint from escaping. Marko's new living arrangement now were solid shatter proof metallic glass walls that had no cracks to allow him to morph into sand to slip through his imprisonment.

"Man doesn't seem to need much oxygen," Though it annoys him that he can't get too close to Flint Marko as to not cause any suspicions, Norman did the next best thing and have one of his top researchers' study and keep track of Flint for further development. "A weak man like Marko shouldn't have such gifts. It's a waste of power that's being used by a single-minded fool. I'm honestly glad Spider-Man beaten him, it just means that I need to make something even stronger then Sandman. Speaking about strong…"

Reaching over to his office scroll next to his computer, the senior Osborn dialed a number to make a call.

"…Yes, sir?" Said the voice coming from somewhere else. "How can I assist you?"

"Doctor, I need an update on our new endeavor's regarding our next pet project." Norman said coolly as he closed all windows that were on Flint Marko's file and live feeds. "We already lost one said project to Vale's security, not to mention Ozpin seemingly pulling more invisible strings to make sure he has more tape over Flint's cell and custody."

"He seems to notice that Flint isn't the usual Huntsmen, sir." The doctor pointed out the obvious. However, long as Norman can remember working with the good doctor, he can recall that talking with the man never has any humor.

"I'm sure everyone knows that Flint isn't a Huntsmen when he turned a bank into a sand castle. No, it's far too late to have the council cover this incident up. Already I hear word that outside forces are getting interested in Vale after so many eye witness accounts involving a near unstoppable man tearing through downtown."

"Let them try and find a way to figure out Marko's physiology," The doctor scoffed, showing his prideful side though the call. "It was a billion and one chance that Flint would have survived, another septillion for him still being able to keep his human form with so many sand particles making for his composition. The inner working of him is fascinating, yet I still can't pin point to how he's stable for so long. Was it his mind pushing it's limits or his will power for survival?"

"You can keep wondering about that later, right now I want to know about our next plan."

"Yes, sir," Just as the doctor on the other end answered, the older Osborn heard his email messenger notifying him about something. "I have everything in this file I sent."

Moving the mouse to click the new file sent to him, Mr. Osborn was greeted with a new mug shot with a new prisoner.

"Alexander O'hirn," Norman read the first name of the prisoner. "Is he in the same jail as Marko?"

"Currently, sir. He'll be transferred to Atlas, along with other members of the Fang that were captured due to two students that are visiting Beacon. Vale is trying to keep them here to further questioning if they're hiding more weapons, but since the White Fang stole military grade weapons from Atlas, the council deemed it fair to have them have a trial there rather than here."

Looking at each file and photo, Mr. Osborn clicked on a video clip that had a recording of Alex fighting multiple law enforcement as they tried to shove him back in his cell.

Alex, using his size and strength easily towered over the guards and swung all his weight into each devastating punch that left some officers unconscious. Batons, riot shields, even rubber bullets were used on this literal beast, yet all it did was cause more bodies to drop to the floor.

"Such savagery," Osborn can only give his respects at such brutal techniques Alex was giving these sorry dogs as he continued to break bones of everyone that's in front of him. "And you say that he will be taken to Atlas custody?"

Not even close to finishing his rampage, Alex made a foolish attempt at escaping by sprinting straight into a solid wall. If his memory recalls, those walls are solid cement and rebar that even a speeding car would have a hard time breaking though. Yet again, Norman Osborn was impressed as Alex seemed to not be bothered by the shock of hitting the reinforced wall and continuously slammed himself until the wall started to have an imprint of the impact.

"Strength at its purist, sir." Norman's employee spoke. "Though he has the traits of one of the largest land mammals, he is still restricted by his other half and isn't able to unlock his true potential."

To prove his point in the form of more guards coming in to subdue the convict, several cannisters were thrown that left a trail of smoke as they sailed in the air. Suddenly, the large brute started to lose speed and became sluggish to the point that he couldn't stand up anymore. The final stretch of the video showed Alex falling on the floor with able bodied guards rushing to quickly put restrained and in a far sturdier cell.

"Well, I can say for certain that this was entertaining to watch." Astonishment over, Norman closed the video and continued to read any info on Alex, the White Fang terrorist.

"Indeed, Alexander has shown great attributes of physicality. Even cross referencing other known Faunus that house the same qualities at him, none can hold a candle to Mr. O'hirn." Sending another file to his employer, the unknown doctor continued to talk about his theory about his future project. "His natural endurance, strength, and tolerance to pain is already above average to even the most seasoned heavy weights, which is why he would be the best candidate for testing our experimental serum, sir."

"I want to make sure this one will not be a fluke like Flint Marko was becoming Sandman, doctor." Norman Osborn gave his worker a condescending tone. "Are you sure he's a prime candidate?"

"No doubt, sir," Said the scientist. "We just need to extract Alex before Vale security hands him over to Atlas."

"Something that will cover our plan that even Spider-Man or even the media will take more focus on." Mind already picking key players in to his scheme, Norman couldn't help but think of one person that already has Vale's attention. "Doctor, when does the staff frequently check up on Marko?"

"They start in the afternoon, the same time as they give him food. Even though Mr. Flint doesn't really need to consume so often."

"I see," Looking though the jail's roster of workers that have that shift, Norman pulled out his bank account. "I'll be arranging with a set of freelancers that worked for me as hired muscle. Thank you for your service today, good doctor, but we'll have to stop for now. I've already kept my family waiting enough as it is. You should do the same too."

"Of course, sir," The caller on the other side laughed, as if also sharing the same idea as Norman. "Have a nice day."

"You as well, Doctor." Doing one last thing on his computer, Norman typed up one email, sent it, and turned off his PC.

Leaving his study room, the father of this expensive penthouse went to the kitchen and was greeted by the sight of his wife and only son. Walking around the dinner table to sit at the head chair, Norman made his adjustments of getting his portion of the food on his table.

"Now, then," Norman placed a napkin on his lap, picked up his steak knife and fork and began to chop up his food. "What were you saying about football, Son?"

* * *

 **[A/N]**

 **Welp, I feel like I wasn't on my game on this one. This was a filler for what's about to happen next, I'm sure you all know that the development on Jaune's side will continue and the Beacon Arc will continue after.**

 **Most of you probably have some complaints and I understand. This chapter was supposed to be published last month, but unfortunately my life to a 180 and I had to be absent for a bit. Coming back to this helped me keep my hands busy, yet I still felt I could do more in this chapter.**

 **The next chapter or two will have Jaune do social stuff, drama ensures, and Spider-Man fighting again. Nothing I have to say with this, just that this chapter is just filler and the next one will be coming this month. Apologies if you guys want developing plot points, but I don't want to drag this one along, so please enjoy this chapter.**

 **Shout out to my Beta, check out his stories, as well as my friend, Nacoma23, for his take on Iron Whitley. Don't forget to like, comment, and fav if you want to get updated on the latest chapter. Thank you!**

* * *

 **[Omake: What happens next]**

' _Everyone's here'_

You said to yourself as you looked from you left and right to see relatives you and some you never even met before.

' _So, this is what the rest of the family is like.'_

Here you are, dressed in black, standing in the partial center of the family funeral in a city you don't even live in. You hear crying from the relatives of your mother's side, including your siblings who tried their best to stop their tears from shedding.

You never visited Vale before, maybe once or twice you caught sight of this giant kingdom from a flight going to from your village and to another destnation. Now though, you can honestly say that you can understand why your grandparents wanted to stay here.

Secure walls, comfortable living, and away from Grimm. You remember your parents telling you that your grandparents thought of living somewhere else to spend their time away from this city yet decided to stay and not explain why.

They were very old, pushing past 90 and yet they still lived in a place full of dangerous thugs and other notorious gangs that you heard about on the news. It should have been good reasons to move away, but they insisted that they wanted to stay.

Thinking about the past was soon interrupted when you hear the final goodbyes for the dearly departed were said, leaving you to follow them out the cemetery.

Still eyeing everything around you, your eyes stopped when you see that someone else was here in the cemetery besides your large family gathering.

You see a lone young man, no older then when you were in highschool, staring at a tombstone with a far away look to his face.

' _A boy that young shouldn't have an expression like that.'_ You said to yourself. _'I really shouldn't pry, I don't have the right to get into other people's personal business.'_

Just when you brushed off the teen as a usual bystander, you saw that almost every relative has left through the main gate.

Running to close the distance, you made it out of the graveyard and kept your speed rather then slowing down as you crossed a road that had your family on the other side.

 **(HOOOONK!)**

Out of no where you were greeted by the sound of a large blow horn coming from your right side. Instinctively, your head moved to look at what was making that noise, only for your mind to catch up to how that was a mistake.

Because it was a large semi heading straight at you!

The driver of the large truck pushed the breaks as hard as he could, yet from how short the distance was between you and his truck it seemed the chances of slowing down in the nick of time are none existent.

' _I need to move, but I don't think I'll make it in time!'_ Already, you can feel the rush of wind as it's close enough that you start to feel the heat from its engine.

Be it fear or just plain slow reaction, you felt helpless as you saw the metal death machine come closer and closer to you.

 **(TWIP! TWIP!)**

Only it wasn't just the speeding semi that was in front of you now.

What started as just the truck colliding with you had now someone else between you and your end as the stranger that saved you stopped the truck all by himself with his bare hands.

"You ok, sir?" The man who saved you didn't ask you, he asked the man driving the truck who gave him a shaky thumbs up. "Good to see that."

With the driver checked, the stranger in red and blue turned to you, making you flinch when your face was reflected off his large compound lenses.

"Word of advice, friend. Try not to compare a city like this to your village, so you can't really run across roads when you have metal death traps like these babies coming from every street." The hero said like he was saying it from experience. "Just make sure you look real careful next time, there's a lot of people who think they can outrun traffic lights. Take care!"

Shooting out some weird rope like substances out of his wrists, the hero that saved you pulled at the strings so hard they catapulted him into the sky and giving him enough momentum to start swing out of your sight.

After he left, your family started to swarm around you, tears of relief and joy knowing that they didn't have to experience another death in the family.

As they talked among themselves of how thankful your alive, in started to recount what happened to you and your grandparents passing.

They passed away by natural causes, no accidents like this happening to them, no muggings, no murder from some psycho, they were able to live the remainder of their days in peace.

' _Now I know why they wanted to stay.'_

Somehow, seeing a live hero made you think that living here in Vale won't be such a bad idea.

* * *

 **[Elsewhere]**

"Sorry, I had to change over and take care of something." Jaune Arc said to a tombstone. "Some family had their funeral a couple of rows next to you, then I felt trouble was happening close by and I just had to act on it."

Silence was Jaune's only answer.

"I just wanted to come back here and say that the person I saved was part of the funeral and that both the driver and the one that almost got hit are saved."

Without warning, wind picked up and ruffled Jaune's hair before fading away just as it arrived.

"Yeah, it's good to just do simple stuff like that, stuff that can easily be avoidable if someone could just be there to help." Seeing where this was leading him, the young spider shook the feeling of depression and started to close this conversation for today.

"Welp, it's getting late and Aunt May is making roasted chicken." Picking up his backpack from the ground, Jaune looked back at the grave of someone important to him one last time.

"It's good talking to you again, Uncle Ben."


	31. Chapter 31

**Brotherhoof12 does not own Spider-Man or RWBY.**

* * *

 **(Chapter 31: Tryouts And Testing. Part 1)**

* * *

Today started out like every other day in Midtown high for Jaune Arc.

He would wake up, check himself in the mirror, get dressed, have breakfast with his Aunt, and go to school. There was also another little habit Jaune did whenever he went to school and that was looking at Beacon's tall clocktower in self-loathing. But, that soon became non-existent thanks to his friends who study there.

' _The difference between Huntsmen and people are very small.'_ Jaune went over what he should have in his first article for the Bugle. _'Everyone is born equal, but…'_

"Dang it," Jaune grumbled, a pencil in his hand soon drew a straight line over a sentence he was writing on his notebook. "I thought I had something going there for a minute."

No longer was he looking at Beacon in sadness or regret, now he was starting to accept his place in Vale with less weight in his heart for fully believing that he is ok. Sitting on a bench that was placed in the front to of the school, Jaune sat there with a pencil and notebook jotting down his ideas.

He already came to terms with it long ago, Jaune would even go to such lengths and say that if he had a chance to do everything again, he would deny it.

Jaune was content, possibly because of his new friends he frequently talks to everytime he visits. Fast-forwarding a week of him talking and learning about each Huntsmen gave a new perspective to the young blonde, so much that he was positive that he'll make team RWBY less hated.

"Morning, Jaune!" Harry greeted his friend. Just now arriving to school with time left to spare. "I see you're writing up a storm in that notebook. Can't wait to read it when you're done."

"Thanks, Harry." Jaune said, his eyes not leaving the page as his hand kept moving the pencil.

"Morning, you two!" A third familiar voice came into their little group circle. Gwen Stacy gave a wave with her arm and slung over her other arm around Harry's neck. "Don't see Jaune have that thousand-yard stare in a while, glad he's getting proper closure."

The tanned skinned senior whispered into Harry's ear.

Harry didn't even answer to whatever she said, he just shoved his elbow into her gut.

"Let's not get into that can of worms." The Osborn heir grimaced. "Rather, I want you guys to learn something that I'm sure will help us when Jaune and I become seniors."

"You guys are finally going to stop being yourself?" Gwen asked.

"What? No, that's…. well, kind of?" He rubbed the back of his head. "Remember how I said that the school will be having tryouts for anyone who wants to join football. I told my father this and he likes the idea of me joining."

"That's good to hear that your dad supports your idea." This time, Jaune lifted his gaze from the paper and to Harry.

Getting such nice words from Jaune made Harry tug his collar.

"I may have also told him you'll be joining, Jaune." A wavering smile came to Harry's face. "I said that to him a couple of days ago."

' _Of course, you did.'_ Sighing, the spider hero closed his paperwork, placed it back inside his bag, and slung his backpack over his shoulder. "At least tell me when we start, Harry."

"It starts after school." Harry frowned when he saw Jaune give him a flat stare. "Come on, Jaune! This could people look at us in a different light. Aren't you tired of Flash and his mouth breather goons always bugging us?"

' _Every day, Harry has a point, but….'_

"I'm still technically on the clock after school is done."

' _That's a lie. Mr. Jameson gave me somewhat of a deadline to give him my final draft. He knows I go to school, so he was a bit lenient if I don't go visit Ruby and her friends everyday. I'm not saying I don't want to help Harry, but…'_

"Do you know anything about football, like, at all?" Gwen added her own opinion on Harry's idea. "As much as I like to see you guys struggle with physical fitness, I don't want see ya'll hurt as a result."

"I know enough," Harry brushed off her statement with a short answer. Stepping ahead of the two, Harry looked at them with a confident, that almost turned pleading look. "Listen, this does sound out of reach, but think about what would happen when we do make it. We'll be _popular!_ No more off handed insults, bullying, and even no more Flash Thompson. It's a perfect power grab! If not that, then, I just want to have a friend to help me."

Jamie sighed. Pinching the bridge of his nose, the Spider-Man unmasked already knew what his answer was going to be.

"Fine," Jaune agreed. "Let's play ball."

"Thank you, Jaune." Harry lifted his right palm that was then grabbed by Jaune's forming a tight grip handshake. "But, you're thinking about baseball, not football."

* * *

Football.

A sport that almost every person in Remnant should have heard that word being used to describe a sport that takes physical contact to its fullest. Vale is the kingdom most fond of the sport, taking a liking that they would pay students a scholarship to make it a career if they put in the effort.

"Gah! Goof!" A familiar blonde wallflower shouted from surprise when he was tackled by his bully, Flash Thompson. Now, some would think that Flash is going too far by tackling Jaune to the ground, but since Jaune was wearing protective sport gear it would be odd if Flash didn't tackle Jaune into the dirt face first.

"Pfoof!" Spitting out both mouth piece and dirt from his mouth, the Jr. student of Midtown High picked himself up and wiped the dust and grass from his football uniform.

 _'This is why I prefer to wear a mask that covers my entire mouth than a helmet.'_ Moving his tongue around his teeth, the secret hero swabbed the rest of the dirt particles and hucked a big spit wad. _'My mask protects me from stuff like this, but a helmet just protects my head. Heck, I'm pretty sure my head is tougher than this helmet, I have super endurance for crying out loud.'_

The sound of an obnoxious and prideful laughing made Jaune to stop his inner complaining and looked to see Flash was the one laughing at Jaune's blunder. His helmet removed showed Flash's hair to be matted down due to overexertion, yet his face showed no sign of fatigue only a playful and egotistical grin.

"Gotta' be light on your feet if you want to join the team, Jauney boy." Either Flash was trying to give him football tips to work on his footing or just insinuating that Jaune's coordination sucks was up for grabs. Really, if Flash wanted to see Jaune 'light on his feet', then he wouldn't be just running laps around only Flash but around the school.

 _'Not here to show off,'_ Jaune didn't say anything, he just nodded his head, walked away from Flash, and made his way to a bench that had other students trying out for the team. _'Just here, cause of a friend and his grand illusions of trying to be popular.'_

"That looked like it hurt." Jaune's best friend said, Harry's smile and excitement for trying out completely contrasting to Jaune's attitude towards being here. "I hope they get to call me next. I'm kind of getting nervous from waiting."

"Yes, Harry," Jaune rolled his eyes. "I'm sure Flash and his goons are also getting exited to see what you can do too."

Pretending to feel sore from that rough tackle just to make it seem believable. Harry looked guilty at what Jaune is going though just so Harry could get a chance for joining the team.

It wasn't like Jaune was angry at Harry for making him be here. In all honesty, if anyone can understand what it's like to feel incompetent and not living up to your parents' expectations, it's Jaune. When Harry told Jaune his plan to make them popular by trying out for football, Jaune knew that it was more for Harry to look good in front of his father, Norman Osborn.

"Alright," Stepping on to the football field, the coach of the team written his comments on his notebook and called out the next student. "Ok, Osborn, you're next! Put on your helmet and get over here."

"Wish me luck!" Closing his fist, Harry raised up for Jaune to mirror the same action causing both to bump fists. Putting his helmet on, Harry bolted off the bench and headed to the field.

"I think I'll pray rather than wish you luck, because I think you're going to need more then the usual right now." Jaune spoke but was sure Harry didn't even listen as the young Osborn placed himself in front of Flash and a few other players.

' _So glad Gwen doesn't have to see Harry and I get our collective butts handed to us right now.'_

The coach blew his whistle, signaling for the football to be thrown over Harry's head. Reacting when the ball was in view, Harry turned around and sprinted to catch it with Flash and another senior hot on his heels.

' _I know Harry has his heart in the right place, but I doubt he could possibly beat Flash.'_

Without fumbling the ball, Harry caught it, made a sharp turn, and faced both Flash and the other player who didn't stop their charge. Out of nowhere, Harry weaved past the two larger brutes and made a sprint to the end goal, throwing the ball just for the fun of it as Harry was the first one to get past Flash and his team.

' _Uhhh…'_ Jaune's mind was at a blank at what he just saw. Apparently, Jaune wasn't the only one completely caught off guard at what Harry did, cause everyone who saw his display of maneuverability and skill left all of them speechless.

"Go… Harry?" Clapping his hands to show his elation for Harry showing up Flash at his own element, Jaune's approval made the other students who were trying out to also clap. _'God, I hope there isn't a urinalysis after these tryouts.'_

"That..." The coach was still finding it hard to accept the fact that Harry, who never had no physical attributes whatsoever, showed such great display of footwork. "Was great, Harry! Keep it up and you'll be a shoe in."

"Thanks, coach!" Taking this as his sign to get off the field, Harry went back to where he was sitting next to Jaune and smiled at how everyone was looking at the young Osborn in a new light.

"Harry?"

"Yeah, Jaune?"

"Do you… know what 'Gym Candy' is, by any chance?" The hero in secret didn't like beating around the bush when it involves his friend taking drugs, which made him decide to cut to the chase and just asked.

"Gym Can...? You mean steroids, Jaune?"

"I mean…. yeah, pretty much," Jaune soon explained why he asked that when he saw Harry looked offended. "Look, I'm not insinuating that you're taking something to help. I just, well, we're not really built for something like this, you know? It just kind of surprised me... all of us that you can do that."

"What can I say, Jaune?" It looked like Harry didn't take to Jaune's words to heart and was now sporting a confident demeanor. "I'm just using my natural talents."

' _Natural talents? Last time I checked, both of our natural talents was hiding from bullies.'_ Call it being concerned for a friend or just jealous for seeing Harry being good at something in school, what matters here was that Jaune needs to put up his facade at sucking at sports. _'I'm here to make Harry look good so his dad can be impressed that his son was able to join the football team. Besides, if by some chance I do make it into joining football, I'll just try and suck so badly they'll kick me out. If I don't, then that would cut in with me going to my work and cutting more hours in my patrols as Spider-Man.'_

After Harry's display of athleticism, the rest of the new players did their best with only some staying till the end with the remainder quitting halfway through the first day of testing. Jaune was one of the few that stayed, though, it was due to loyalty to a friend rather than for the love of football.

The coach made them do the usual practices of throwing, defense, offense, and the occasional physical workouts to see if more would drop out. Jaune was tempted to just quit and say he was out of steam, but seeing his friend enjoying this sort of thing made him want to keep going just so his friend could brag to his family that he joined something without the help of others.

"Ok, we're going to do another practice run." The coach used his clipboard and went down to a small list of names on who will start first. "Jaune Arc, get on the field, we're going to test out how you can catch a ball and run to the other end zone."

"Joy." Putting back his scuffed-up helmet, Jaune went to his spot in the middle of the field and stared face to face with Flash.

"Mad props you're still here, Jauney boy." The blonde geek could see some respect from Flash's comment. "But we ain't letting you join just because of that."

' _Trust me, Eugene, I have no reason to join. Just make sure you tackle me hard enough so I can make an excuse to go to the nurse's office.'_

The whistle was blown signaling for the practice match to begin. When the football was thrown in a straight arc that soon dipped back down, Jaune pretended to flail his arms around to look like an idiot when he caught it.

' _Ok, got the ball and now, I just need to stand still and wait for my demis-'_

"Jaune!"

Turning around and facing away from the charging players, Jaune could see both Blake and Ruby standing at the sidelines. Ruby was waving her arms to get his attention while Blake looked around, making some of the students to look at her.

"Stay focused!" Yelled Flash as he was about to tackle Jaune to the ground.

When Flash was just a grab distance away, Jaune's spider sense kicked in and made Jaune backflip from Flash's grab.

"Oof!" Hitting the grassy field facefirst due to Jaune dodging the charge, Flash flipped to his back and looked at Jaune with a disbelieving gaze.

Not meaning to use his spider sense intentionally, the young hybrid used this opportunity and sprinted to the end zone making a touchdown.

Removing his football helmet, the spider themed hero walked passed several newbies including his friend and stood in front of his coach.

"Is it alright if I take a small time out?"

* * *

' _The last time I was here at Jaune's highschool, everyone who started getting into puberty had their eyes on me.'_ Blake thought. _'I_ _s it their first time seeing a Huntress? I know they live safely behind thick walls compared to villages outside of Vale, but they should have at least seen one before in their life.'_

In her early years, before she met her team, Blake trained to hide in the crowd, to be another faceless nobody. Now, here in this school, it seemed that years of training to be one with the scenery was wasted.

' _I'm also the same age as most of them, so I shouldn't be that easy to find in a sea of teens. Yet, when I decided to go visit Midtown High, people started to look at me with the same attention as before. Only this time, the amount of people looking at me have doubled, with some having their sights set on my team leader.'_

"That was so cool!" Ruby didn't hold back on her excitement when she grabbed a hold of Jaune's arm and started to jump in place. "I can't believe you did that! With your back turned, too!"

 _'Ruby should be the one with the most attention,'_ Blake snorted when she started to see small rose petals falling off Ruby's cloak. _'Compared to her wearing a full-on cloak, I should be the one easy to hide in crowds. So why are people still looking at me?'_

"Uhhh, well," The blonde civilian just rubbed the back of his head with his other hand. Face getting red from Ruby's close physical contact. "I guess it was purely reflex that made me do that. You should've seen my friend earlier, Harry is a natural when playing football."

' _Harry Osborn?'_ That name rang a few bells in Blake's head. _'I don't want to say that I know him, otherwise I would reveal that I've been talking to Jaune alone without my team. Plus, I don't want Ruby to misunderstand and tell Yang, so she can have more ammunition to tease me with.'_

"Still, you did that amazing backflip when that other guy was behind you. That's still amazing, even you have to admit that." Ruby kept her hold on Jaune's arm, tightening her arms wither or not it was on purpose.

"What you did was impressive, Jaune." Blake had to give the young man some respect for his show of agility. "I'm sure you'll be able to join if you have moves like that under your sleeves."

"Blake's right, I think you'll be perfect to join the football team!" Her team leader agreed with her opinion.

"Me? Joining the team?" Jaune pondered the idea before asking his own questions. "Wait, why are you guys here?"

"I had to get more dust." Ruby answered.

"But I thought you guys were restricted to Beacon."

"The headmaster was able to make some small favors," The cat faunus in secret explained. "Now our team can go off the academy, but only for a set amount of time each day. We also need to inform the staff where we go and what time we leave."

"Didn't anyone notice you guys?" He said in concern. "Speaking about being noticed, I never seen you guys wear these clothes before. I usually see you wear the same outfit from the first time we met, Ruby."

"T-this?" Ruby put her hands on her new skirt she bought. "I didn't really pick it out, a friend of mine had someone on her team who likes fashion, so she's the one who chose this.

Ruby's new outfit was a long-sleeve, light grey shirt with black belted cuffs near the ends of her sleeves. Over the top of the grey is a black pinafore with two vertical lines of red stitches that resemble the lacing on a corset. Ruby's skirt still has her signature red color with a black print of a rose on the side that matches the black tulle underneath.

"I like it, in my opinion this one is way better then the other one I saw you in. No offense." Jaune said truthfully.

As usual, Ruby's face started to turn red when Jaune talks about her. Blake wasn't blind, though the rest of her team, Yang very much so, doesn't see the development Ruby has for the young man.

For Jaune though, he seems to not even notice what he doing to Ruby by saying such compliments.

' _I really shouldn't judge Ruby and her type of boys she likes. Not really one to brag with my sorry track record of a love life. God, I've been hanging out with Yang for so long, that I'm starting to get distracted over school yard crushes that's happening right before my eyes. Hold on, why did they stop talking? Why are they staring at me?'_

"Did your friend's friend from another team also pick her outfit?" He asked her leader.

Looking down at what she was wearing, Blake had on this outfit consists of a white, v-neck, zip-up crop shirt with a black hem and three-quarter sleeves. Her emblem is printed in off-white on the left side of the shirt. She wears black pants that have a vertical gray stripe on the outer side of each leg and a black belt.

Attached to the rear of the belt is a black piece of fabric that covers her from hip to hip. Underneath this is a longer, translucent, purple piece of fabric. She also wears black high-heel boots with two straps and buckles and purple under soles, reaching to mid-calf. She retains the black ribbons on her forearms and her black bow still secure on her secret.

"You're expecting anything else?" She wasn't like Ruby, Blake isn't going to go red tomato from Jaune's complement.

"Not really, just glad you have something with color. Well, not really color that's noticeable, but you're getting there. Baby steps, Blake, baby steps."

Rolling her eyes at his blasé comment, she went ahead to take this talk to the main topic.

"Coco is the one who helped us with these, thought it would help us blend in by changing our clothes. Not many people could get a good look at us that night from all the chaos."

' _Minus Weiss, girl sticks out from any place she goes. Hell, if I stuck her near a pure white canvas then I'm sure she's going to blend in. I wonder if the same applies during snowstorms?'_

"Anyway, that's why we changed our appearance. There's a lot of people with the same hair color as mine and Ruby's, what we're wearing is just another way to not put too much attention."

"You serious?" He eyed both girls. "Most of the guys here are still looking at you two. Pretty sure some are even staring at the back of my head."

Not even going to respond to what he said, Blake kept the conversation back to the main reason. "Our Headmaster had to make a lot of things to give us some freedom. We were lucky that half of us can go outside, Yang and Weiss will have a harder time with the public. Yang because she was the most visible one when fighting Roman and causing all that property damage, even more so with Weiss due to her being part of the SDC."

"In the meantime, the one we have to tell when we want to leave the academy is Ms. Goodwitch, even though we can inform other staff she's been the one most active in knowing where we go." Ruby's added. "Blake came along cause she wanted to get some new books. We saw your school on our way back and we decided to see what you were doing. I mean, with the whole reporter thing and stuff."

"I was intending to go after practice was over. My friend had this idea that me and him should try out for football, so as soon as I'm done, I'm going to head over to Beacon."

"Don't you think that's a bit too much on your plate?" Seeing Jaune do waiter at a diner, shop clerk at a dust store, and be a reporter that is writing an article that could make it or break it for their team were things even she would find are to keep track of.

"I mean, yeah, it is, but I think my boss and Mr. Stane would understand if I need some time to myself. You know, so I can have enough to write the whole story and stuff."

That excuse seemed flimsy to her, yet Ruby seemed to believe it as she let go of Jaune's arm.

"Yeah, I think I would also get kind of tired going to places that isn't fun."

"It's not that I don't think going to Beacon to see you guys isn't fun, Ruby!" Jaune corrected her. "I just… look, I'm mostly doing this for my friend Harry, cause he wants to look good so his dad would be impressed and-"

"You don't have to explain everything, Jaune." Ruby punched his shoulder in a friendly manner. "I understand that you're doing this for a friend. If you need time, then you need time, I'm sure our friends understand."

"Thanks, Ruby." He said, stretching his limbs that popped in several areas to show that his time on the playing field was taking a toll on him. "I'm not really a sports kind of guy. I was here just to make Harry look good, but he still hopes that I can also be part of the team."

"Well, why not?" The hooded huntress suggested. "We just saw you do that amazing dodge like it was second nature, I think you should give it a shot."

' _Now that I think about it,'_ Blake remembered how she saw Spider-Man make impossible dodges when fighting the Fang at the docks. _'No, can't be, it's a stupid idea… then again, this could be a good way to see if it's a possibility.'_

"Ruby's right," She agreed, though it was for another reason. "You may think it was luck, but Ruby and I know you can do it. Just keep going, and even if you do somehow make it, you can just quit. Right? That's what you can do in football, right? I don't watch sports."

Looking between both Blake and Ruby, Jaune closed his eyes and opened them again, only this time he seemed to have a bit of confidence behind those ocean blue irises.

"Ok, you convinced me. I'll do my best!"

"Yeah! That's what I like to hear!" Ruby cheered.

"But shouldn't you guys be getting back soon? I'm sure you guys have at least some curfew you have to obey."

"We do, but it doesn't end until 10pm, so we have a couple of hours left." The ex-Fang follower told him. "We'll be sitting in the bleachers, just focus on playing."

"We'll be cheering you on every step of the way!" The shorter girl raised two thumbs as support.

"Show us some skills out there, Jaune." Blake said, though behind her words what she really means was something completely different.

' _This is just a hunch,'_ Blake told herself as she watched as Jaune walked back on the grassy field and got ready to play again. _'A slim chance that it could be true.'_

Not leaving her eyes off him, she heard the whistle blow and watched as Jaune began making his move.

' _It can't be this simple. No way that the answer was right under my nose this entire time.'_

Be it dumb luck or a coincidence, Jaune grabbed the ball with no signs of fumbling, took a side step to dodge a tackle of the left, and vaulted over another player before making a mad sprint to the other side of the football field.

"Wow! He's really good at this, Blake." Ruby screamed at Jaune's performance and followed it up by clapping.

"Yeah," She said offhandedly, not really paying much attention to Ruby and mostly on Jaune. "He's a natural."

' _Just wait and see what else he can do.'_ She told herself, not wanting to outright say something to him that could still be wrong. _'After that, then I'll have my answer at who Jaune really is behind that mask of his.'_

* * *

People who saw Harry perform his tricks was something to say the least. The young Osbron was able to keep up with the more trained players, even getting Flash a run for his money. He can catch, throw, dodge, and even tackle some who are heavier then him.

Some of the players who were seniors were having doubts that their lower class men could hold the school's win streak from other teams from different schools. Their opinion changed when they saw that some of the newbies had more potential then the rest of the washouts.

"Whooo!" Hollered another rising star, Jaune Arc, who was basically making Flash and the other seniors look like they never played before by showing skills that even Harry couldn't compete.

Running past the half line, Jaune thought he was in the clear when he felt his spider sense warning him of an imminent threat.

"Grahh-oof!" That 'threat' was Flash and his weak attempt to catch Jaune off guard by trying to take down Jaune's blind spot.

' _Too bad for you, I don't have any blind spots.'_

Pushing a little bit more energy in his legs, the young super powered teen made quick work on closing the distance between him and the end zone that not even their best runner could catch up.

Feeling a little bit cocky, Jaune slowed down his pace to give them a chance to grab him. Too bad that they must sprint more than forty yards while Jaune just had 4 steps till he reaches for a touchdown.

Knowing that it was already over and not wanting to humiliate them any longer, Jaune stepped over the line, making the coach blow his whistle to end the practice.

Though Harry maybe skilled and could make the team hold on the team's dedication to the game, it was Jaune who showed that not only could they beat any other teams when he joined, but might even take them to newer heights.

"Good hustle, Jaune!" The coach said, sounding honest rather than just giving him a small, hollow complement like the other players who are failing. "Get some water and take a seat, I don't think I have to let you know what the chances are for you to join."

Making a gesture with his head, the rising superstar made his way to the water jug placed next to the benches. There, he saw his friend Harry having a somewhat of a downed look as he looked at his feet rather than what was happening on the field.

' _I know that look better then anyone,'_ Taking a couple of more cups water into his systems, Jaune was going to head over to Harry to start a conversation. _'Show boating aside, I should just tone it down and-'_

"Jaune!" Snapping his attention to where Ruby was shouting, he could see her waving her arms to get his attention, while Blake looked like she was trying her own way of congratulating him by giving him a thumbs up. "You're doing great! Whooo!"

He smiled at Ruby's cheering. He forgot what he was about to do and just waved back at the Huntress in red, acknowledging her enthusiasm.

' _I could so get used to seeing this when I join the team.'_ He should feel guilty for using his spider traits,but seeing Ruby and even some of Blake's positive reinforcement kind of made him feel like he can let it slide for now.

' _Every time I score a touchdown, every time I intercept or stop a pass, I'll always see Ruby and the rest of her friends cheering me on!'_

Now, with Jaune caught in the afterglow of his win, he didn't notice his friend getting called back on the field for another practice throw.

"Set! Hike!" Screamed the gym coach. Giving the ok to start, Harry backed up to catch the ball as it made a nose dive.

"Got it!" He screamed, some of his confidence showing at how he flawlessly caught it. Wasting no more time, Harry made a dash to the other team's end zone while the opposing football players catching up to him.

Booking it as fast as he could, Harry was just reaching the 20-yard line when he soon slowed down. Seeing as the Osborn was losing some energy, the opposing players pushed their bodies to catch up.

Not wanting to be beaten, Harry pushed his legs to get back up to speed.

Getting into the 10-yard line, the young heir thought he had it in the bag, only for it to be snatched when he felt a pair of muscular arms wrapped around his upper body.

"Got you!" Said some player that was wearing a number 45 jersey.

Feeling the extra weight and how strong the grip was, Harry could feel his momentum stopping. Looking over his shoulder, he could see some of the others getting closer and getting ready for a dog pile.

Trying his luck to break free, Harry instinctively looked at Jaune for support.

Despite wanting Jaune to also be part pf the football team, it was to help Harry look better by having Jaune be the weak link. Harry knows that it was mean, to use a friend for your own benefit didn't really sit well with him. He was hoping to have him and Jaune be part of Midtown High football team, only to have his imagination go from twisted as Harry was trying to look good compared to Jaune who was completely better.

How Jaune was able to hide such amazing talent was anyone's guess, including Harry, who was now think maybe Jaune was the one taking something to make him better at sports.

' _Not like I'm any better.'_

Getting out of his head to focus on what's going on around him, the Osborn saw that Jaune was still smiling at those two cute girls that were from Beacon.

That made Harry grit his teeth, not understanding what feeling was burning inside him from seeing Jaune getting some attention by someone who isn't even part of the school.

"Grr!" However, it was the perfect motivator for Harry to march forward with the number 45 player getting dragged from behind.

"Touch down!" Shouted the coach, blowing his whistle to let everyone know that practice try outs are over.

Having no other reason to keep holding on, player 45 untangled his arms form Harry.

"Nice moves." The anonymous senior told his Jr. classmen, putting a hand out to Harry to shake.

"I know." Not even taking the time to know who he was, Harry Osborn walked pass the people who gives their complements to him and sat back down.

Tallying up the information gathered, the gym teacher used an arm and motioned everyone, both team players and recruits, to circle around him.

"I saw some good action out there," He moved his eyes on Harry and then to Jaune. "More than I imagined, and on the firsts day, too! For some who didn't keep up and thinking of quitting or getting booted, don't worry, we have all week till I make my final decision."

When the manager of the football team said his piece, the students made their way to the showers to clean themselves off.

"Jaune Arc! Harry Osborn!" That is, until the coach yelled two names from the crowd.

Stopping their walk, the two looked back at the coach, expecting to hear the gym teacher shout at them.

"You boys did good." What they got was more favoritism instead. "I saw you both put out and I got to say, that you two will be he perfect replacements for when Flash and the rest of the seniors leave. Now, go on! Get some rest, you boys earned it."

"Yes, sir." Harry replied.

"Yes, coach." Said Jaune.

What coach said was heard not so far off from the rest of the group of players, one of them being another blonde.

"Dude!" Flash Thompson said in a dreaded tone. "The nerds are inheriting the planet!"

* * *

 **Welp, this chapter is done and i can already imagine some of you are not happy. Some of you feel like i'm losing focus or just putting too much filler. But your not half right, cause this is just the other side of what Jaune is doing in school.**

 **I already dropped an Easter egg on how Harry wanted to get popular before the dance and the football Arc is the key. This is a two part and the other half is almost done. This chapter will have some minor skips, such as how a week or so passed with Jaune already getting comfortable with Beacon. The same will happen with this, since i know how slow it gets with world building.**

 **Have no fear! Cause after this football Arc, the Dance Arc will begin starting with Jaune having no date what so ever!**

 **Hope you guys will also forgive me for not publishing more last month. I said i would publish 2 a month, but work has been getting more hectic! Still, since i'm already somewhat done with the second part, i am confident i can pull out another and publish the second one this month.**

 **For some other reasons with how Ruby and Blake are introduced in this chapter. I like to imagine that compared to Yang and Weiss, both Ruby and Blake do have a better chance to stay low. Yang was more visible when she was fighting compared to Blake who was fast enough to jump from car to speeding car. As for Weiss, well, she's pure white, literally. Plus, since she is way more noticeable, people will still know who she is making Ruby the second person on the team to go under the radar since brunettes with a slight red tinge color is somewhat common. I'm also throwing the anime card, cause that also makes things pass on as normal by some standards.**

 **It was also my way of having them see what his school is like, even though Blake already saw some of Mid town, I'm getting Ruby even more involved in Jaune's life. Not to mention, it will be used again when the dance arc rolls in, just so you guys will understand later on when it's revealed.**

 **Check out my Beta's stories too, but before you do make sure to like, fav, or make your comments about this chapter. I'll answer them the next chapter or i could forget, either way, i'm happy that you guys still hold this story in some regard. thank you and enjoy this omake!**

* * *

 **[Omake: Get out of jail for free]**

* * *

' _I'm still here.'_

It was now night time in Vale, people were already heading home to get some rest. Leaving some roads clear for an armored escort vehicle to take this opportunity to drive the lonely road.

What they were carrying was a group of convicts, each one having an animalistic trait that's different than the last. These men were part of the White Fang and they were being transported to a destination that Atlas security set up and are waiting at the drop off point.

' _I wonder how she's doing?'_

All were chained together, from their wrists and to their ankles. Yet, there was another person within the transporter that had a different way of keeping him locked up. That something was a large rectangular box made of the same cage used to hold Flint Marko, also known as Sandman the news gave him after his debut at the docks.

' _Funny, I should be more worried about where they're taking me, but all I can think about is her.'_

Call it acceptance, defeat, or just redeeming oneself by not fighting the law. All that was keeping Flint calm and still within his glass box was his daughter.

' _Is she doing ok? Is her mother doing ok?'_

Flint had ideas, grand ideas when he got these powers that people can only have when they're dreaming. But he isn't those people, they can fantasize and dream all they want, cause Flint has power, real power, and all that amounted him in this sorry state.

A bump from the road made everyone in the back groan in annoyance. None of them thought much about it, some said out loud that the driver just plain sucks. Flint could care less if these other guys kept complaining, at least they're not inside a glass tomb.

Banging from the front where the two armed guards were sitting made them all calm down. Every criminal made the same hollow threats of what they're going to do if they ever escape from here.

That chance came in the form a large object ramming the side of the armored carrier.

The speed and mass of the 18-wheeler made the prisoner transport topple over, making the people who were inside to be tossed around. Hitting the hard interior of the truck, including each other until their pain ended when the battered steel van stopped.

Smoke was rising out of the busted engine and heat could already be felt in the front of the driver's seat. Suddenly, every hardcore thug who talked big about what they planned to do when they escaped, started to scream for help dropping their tough guy act when something is threatening their life.

Cries of help only fell on deaf ears, when the people behind the attack ignored them and casually walked out of their large truck.

"Damn," Fancy Dan looked at the destroyed van they just hit. "You think the person we're looking for is still alive?"

"What, did you already forget who we're hired to rescue, Dan?" The leader, Montana, twirled a tooth pick with his tongue. Watching the fire that's coming from the armored vehicle to get bigger. "If he kicks the bucket form something like these, then he really isn't really worth all this effort. Not like we should complain, we got paid before we did this."

"Obligation." Was the only word Ox said as he walked passed his two associates holding a long steel cable with a hook on the end.

"Yup, Ox is right. Our rep would be tarnished if we go back on our deal. Besides, Mr. Osborn is a very popular and loyal costumer. To double cross him, our most loyal customer and investor, would be disrespectful to him and to the big man himself."

"If that hit didn't kill him," Dan pointed at the blazing death trap. "Then the fire will."

Picking up the pace, Ox plunged the hook beep into the back door. Taking a step back, he signaled one of his friends to put the truck in reverse.

Fancy Dan was the quickest to be in the driver's seat, leaving Montana to deal with the other part of this little operation.

Reaching for his scroll, Montana dialed a number and waited for the other end to answer.

"Good Evening, sir." Spoke Montana in a polite greeting. "Just wanted to let you know that we are at the location and my team is already getting your V.I.P to safety as we speak."

The cowboy just nodded his head at whoever was talking on the other end of the call.

"We didn't see much other resistance other than the small posse that trialed behind the target. Probably thought they wouldn't see much action with how slow tonight is. Don't worry, we already handled the little entourage they had a few miles back. Made sure we didn't leave any prints, too."

Whatever this mystery person said made Montana laugh.

"Heh, heh! You're too kind, sir. The Enforcers are nothing but professionals when it comes to this line of work."

Hearing metal being torn, Montana looked over and saw the back door was now open. What came next was a gaggle of grown men doing their best to escape only for them to tangle each other thanks to the cuff that are all attached to them.

"That's just a sorry sight." The cowboy shook his head. "Ox! Pull those gents out, will ya?"

Letting out a grunt of acknowledgment, Ox walked to the nearest Faunus, grabbed him by the collar, and in one heave, pulled the entire chain out of the burning vehicle. Sticking his head inside for anything else, Ox found what he was looking for when he saw a solid clear through box full of sand.

"Got him." Pulling the smaller prison out of the metal van, he tossed the intended package right at Montana's feet.

"Hello, Flint," Montana smiled. "Good seeing you again, but I'm pretty sure you would have liked our meeting a little better if you weren't in such a sorry state."

Getting a response by seeing the sand morph into Flint's scowling face made the leader of the enforcers laugh.

Focusing on the call again, Montana moved his head to signal the rest of his team to get to work on freeing Flint.

"We got him, sir," Montana went back to his caller. "They had guards to protect the convoy, but they were spread too thin. It was easy to take them down one at a time, but what really made this easy was your other friend redirecting radio communication. Give him my thanks for me, will ya?"

While their leader was talking, both Fancy Dan and Ox made their effort in unlocking the box.

"Not many openings to try and open it. It seems you can only open it with a code" Said Dan. "Think one of the guards has the password?"

Looking back at the truck, both saw that the front was completely engulfed in flames.

"I ain't going in that." Ox said crossing his arm, over his massive frame.

"Guess we have to try a different approach." Not having the mental capacity to figure out how to get passed a digit encrypted lock, Fancy Dan made up his mind to try something a bit more barbaric.

"It's sealed tight, even more so on the inside." With a well-placed kick, Fancy Dan bashed the control pad, causing it to malfunction. "All of that is thrown out when this little do-dad isn't working to seal this stupid thing."

Like a geyser, sand shot up straight into the air and landing in front of both Fancy Dan and Ox.

Willing himself to turn into human form, the recently turned super villain, Sandman, glared at his 'rescuers'.

"Is that really the look your going to give to the guys who saved you?" Fancy Dan didn't look intimidated by Sandman's scowl.

"Did Mr. Osborn send you?" He asked them.

"Whoa, let's not say that out loud in the open!" The shortest of the enforcers made a cutting motion with his right hand. "These streets, while quiet right now, still has some unsavory rats."

"Yeah, I know, I'm seeing one right now."

Ox snorted in amusement.

"Now, let's all just stop before one of us makes a mistake." Montana placed himself between Flint Marko and Fancy Dan. "Got a call here for you. You might like what you hear, trust me."

Handing the scroll to Flint, Montana gestured the rest of his crew to wait at their car for further instructions.

"Keep the scroll," Montana made a farewell gesture by tipping his hat to Marko. "We did our part by freeing you. Now, it's all on you from here on out."

Leaving Marko by himself, the man made of sand turned and walked away to the opposite direction.

"Hello?" Asked Flint.

 _"Good Evening, Mr. Marko."_ Replied a familiar tone. _"Glad to be free?"_

"What do you need me to do?" Cutting to the chase, he asked the man who made him into this what his plans are.

 _"Nothing."_ That word made him stop dead in his tracks.

 _"You're free, dept_ _is paid,_ _no strings attached."_ Osborn said. _"Be where you want_ _to_ _be. I'm sure the one place you truly wish_ _to see_ _is the home where your daughter lives."_

"R-really?" Flint hated how his rough and cool demeanor was shattered when he heard that.

 _"Yes,go to your daughter. Your 'injured' daughter. To see your wif-sorry, your ex-wife_ _in her dingy apartment. It's going_ _to be hard_ _she keeps going to work more often than tending the needs for your child."_

"Injured?" The sand within his body was getting harder and harder to keep shape.

 _"Oh, yes, a car accident with someone hitting her school bus. She and the other students are fine, but unfortunately for her, she was sitting where the car impacted, resulting in her now using a crutch for a broken leg."_

"If you did this..." Sandman unconsciously grew several feet bigger.

 _"I'm rich, not omnipotent."_ Osborn scoffed. _"It was just some driver hopped up on some drugs found in his glove compartment. Your wife is struggling enough with regular bills, now she has to deal with a very hefty medical bill, too."_

"If you're trying to make me work for you again by telling me this..."

 _"Did you forget or are you that stupid?"_ Osborn senior dropped his little charade and spoke in cold and dispassionate voice. _"I said you're free, so enjoy your freedom. Just remember, it's going to be hard trying to find an 'honest day's work' when people see you as the Sandman."_

Flint Marko's head looked down to the floor, realization dawning on him that what Osborn is saying is true. Who was he kidding? Did he honestly think he can just walk away from all this? Of what he has done both being a crook and being a villain?

 _"I'm going to assume that you finally caught on to what I'm getting at here. So I'll ask one final question, Flint Marko. What are you going to do now?"_

An image from not so long ago drifted in to his head. It was a sand box with his daughter building something.

Alone, no one there to watch or help her.

In the end, that was all he needed to push himself to do what must be done.

"I'm going to give my daughter that perfect sandcastle."

Crushing the scroll within his hands. Sandman walks down the darkly lit road, determination now brimming inside himself. He couldn't leave it to his wife to handle all these problems, and he most certainly doesn't want to even humor the idea to look for his so called 'friend' to help either.

' _No, in the end, it's all on me.'_ What happens next, is entirely by his choice. No one to blame it on if he fails, no one to give him orders to do something. He was truly free from all of that, yet, he still doing the same song and dance by being something his daughter wouldn't look up to.

A bad guy.


	32. Chapter 32

**Disclaimer: Brotherhoof12 does not own Spider-Man or RWBY.**

Chapter 32: Tryouts and Testing, Part 2.

"I wonder what else they'll try and throw at us." Jaune asked his friend. Both teens were walking off of the field after finishing another successful day of tryouts. "Harry?"

"Uh?" Though finally paying attention, Harry remained quiet, thinking about what to say to Jaune's answer. "I'm not sure, really; maybe something involving Flash and his mouth breather friends doing their best to trounce us to the ground."

"Oh, man!" Jaune chuckled when he remembered something funny, "The look on Flash's face when he saw you outrunning his team or when I did a flip over his head when he and that other guy tried to tackle me on both sides!"

This was the third day of testing to see who could be eligible for the football team, and so far, both Jaune and Harry are the two most likely to join.

There are other students who showed potential and great promise, too. Yet compared to Harry and Jaune, it would be hard for the rest of the guys trying to compete to have their hopes of ever getting picked.

"Or how both of them couldn't stop from how fast they were running, causing both to crash face to face." Osborn Jr. never thought he would see day when their local bully would meet his match, and that it was Jaune, of all people, who was showing up Flash at football.

"I can't wait to tell Gwen tomorrow! She's going to love this!"

"She's working with that professor as an assistant, right?" The boy with the combed shade of red hair asked.

"I forgot who it was, but I'm sure she'll hear about it from the other kids. I mean, we made everyone total chumps today!"

Bobbing his head to show that he agreed with what Harry said; Jaune felt something build up inside of him that he thought he would never feel.

Vindication.

 _'Also confidence, can't forget about confidence.'_

"I had my reservations about doing this, Harry." Said reservations were stopped when a girl with a red hood was telling him otherwise, "But now? I can honestly get into the whole sports craze."

"I'm glad to hear that," Jaune could hear some wavering in Harry's tone but decided to not call him out on it. "Guess my idea worked, you know, with me trying out for the team. And you! Wow, the way you moved around those guys was phenomenal. Don't even get me started on your little fan group! I remember that the Goth girl didn't say a word when Gwen and I were talking to her, but the short one's new!"

"Oh, come on, Harry!" He tried to fight down his blush when his friend mentioned Ruby and Blake. "Blake is Blake. She was mostly getting dragged along by Ruby. That short girl you saw? She's the leader of an all Huntress team."

Ruby and Blake seemed to make a habit now of showing up to Jaune's after school practice. So much so that it seemed to make an effect to the guys who never saw a huntress so cute before trying harder when playing.

Sadly, they ended up falling behind in performance whenever Jaune stepped out onto the field, causing Ruby and sometimes, Blake, to cheer when they see him play.

"Ruby just wanted to see what I was doing. After seeing me dominate today, I think she'll come back to see more!"

Though both girls did come along and visit, they sadly didn't stay for long, not wanting to push their luck testing their teacher's already trying patience. Though, Ruby did promise that she'd always come and watch him play after school. Blake promised as well, but it felt a bit odd since Jaune notice her eyes were always following him, even when he wasn't playing.

 _'Hope she isn't planning to pull me aside to ask me about Spider-Man. It always feels weird talking to me about "me" with her.'_

"So, an all huntress team," Jaune's friend placed his thumb and finger over his chin. "They kind of look like an idol group to me. Hey, now that I think about it, I remember that a group of huntresses were fighting a giant robot on a highway. You think they go to Beacon too?"

"Uh, no, I can't really say for sure if they go to Beacon." The spider hero made a fast answer to divert the topic away from team RWBY's actions. "You're overthinking things. There's like, over a thousand Huntsmen going through Vale doing whatever mission they signed up for. What are the chances of ever meeting them?"

"Hmm, I do remember watching the news about people seeing girls wrecking the highway. It's kind of hard to know what's real and what's fake, you know how people tend to stretch the truth a bit too far."

"Yup, Ruby and Blake just have those faces." Jaune played it off as best as he could. "It's been what, more than two months and a half now? People's attention spans are starting to get shorter and shorter these days. They'll talk about it one day and the next they'll be talking about the newest thing, like Spider-Man!"

"Or maybe Sandman," The rich teen pointed out another high rising person of interest. "That's a person nobody is definitely going to forget. The man could literally turn himself into a sandstorm and a sand monster for crying out loud. That, Jaune, is a cool supervillain!"

' _You wouldn't be saying that if you were the one Sandman was knocking around like a ragdoll.'_

Jaune remembered the beatdown Sandman gave him after stopped him from robbing that bank. He was someone with so much versatility in his abilities that Jaune wasn't sure if he could have beaten him. He was lucky to have landed near a construction site with an abundant amount of cement to use.

"But let's get back on topic. With how well we're playing, I have no doubt we'll be picked to be part of the team." Jaune felt pride at his words. "Harry, you were right about trying football. This can definitely help us in the long run."

"You're totally welcome, Jaune." Again, Harry sounded like he was having a hard time speaking what he truly felt. "Jaune, can I ask yo-"

"Sorry, Harry," The teen hero had to stop his friend from speaking when his scroll vibrated in his pocket. Seeing the caller I.D., Jaune gave Harry an apologetic look. "I got to take this, you go on ahead. I'll see you tomorrow, see you later!"

Separating from his friend right when Harry was about to say something, Jaune Arc doubled back to the now empty football field.

With no signs of life other than himself, Jaune got back on his scroll.

"Hey, Whitley, sorry I had you wait, needed to get away from my friend. Anyway, what's the update?"

* * *

"Jaune moves to the left!" Jaune, now in his hero costume, mimicked the technique he saw at practice today.

"Jaune gets ready for the throw!" Setting his arm way back, he flung the ball high in the air so far that it was getting harder to spot in the night sky.

"The football is coming down!" Using his enhanced leg muscles to sprint to where the ball was going to land. Spider-Man reached the point where the ball was heading; he twisted his upper body, put both hands in front of his face, and caught the football with no worry of losing his grip thanks to his adhesive skin.

"It's good!" Doing a silly dance to celebrate his pretend win, Spider-Man tossed ball in the air and caught it before doing the process over again.

"Today is going by way better than I thought." The arachnid hybrid said as he kept tossing the ball up and down. "I don't suck at football, Flash looked like an idiot every time I played, Ruby was visiting and rooting for me, with Blake in tow too, and best of all, Whitley called!"

 _'And the best part of all this. Is that it's not really hurting anyone, I'm just playing football!'_

Yes, today things were looking up for Jaune, his hopes getting higher when his friend from Atlas called.

 _'Mercury Black,'_ Jaune remembered what Whitley told him through the scroll, _'The Son of Marcus Black. The man was a notorious and skilled assassin, usually hired for jobs ranging from single hits to mass killings. Now, it looks like his son has followed in his father's footsteps. Don't ask me where his father, because I can give you two theories and neither of them end with the man still being alive. My personal opinion, the guy looks like a total douche.'_

"Not the start I wanted, but it's still a start."

 _'As For the girl with the green hair,'_ Jaune recalled the information regarding the second person of interest. _'I've been finding several reports on Petty theft across the kingdoms and the only one that I can link to her was one in Mistral, about a year ago. Not much I can get, other than the fact that she was well acquainted with the law since her first mug shot, which was taken when she was 13. Personal note, she seems like the desperate type.'_

"So, I got a professional assassin's son and a master thief that's the same age as me." Spider-Man summarized the two goons Cinder has. "As for Cinder…"

 _'Nothing,'_ Was what Whitley told him. _'I'm not one to brag, Jaune, but I'm literally one of the smartest people on Remnant. I have a computer that can give me a wide search across every single known data server in the four kingdoms, yet it can't find a single bit of evidence to show that this woman even exists. This Cinder is a complete mystery. She's practically a ghost.'_

"Meh, two out of the three isn't so bad." He shrugged his shoulders.

 _'Even if I do get some small chatter about someone looking like her, she was probably using fake aliases, maybe even falsified records. The other two were easy since they both had a huge paper trail. I don't know why, but I feel like there's something bigger going on with these three. That's all I have, but I'll call again as soon as possible. Take care, and be careful, Jaune.'_

Saying that last piece, the rest was just Jaune getting back home, telling his Aunt the news about joining Football, hugs and kisses being his Aunt's reply, and the rest is just him doing his natural hero route.

"Ok, time to drop the day dreaming." He said, placing the football back into his backpack which also held his emergency clothes and camera accessories. Spider-Man tossed the pack off the building, shot a web that caught the bag and attached it to the side of the wall.

Tip-toeing on the ledge, he made a nose dive halfway till he shot a webline to another tall sculpture that slowed his fall and glided his way through the streets.

"Harry did say he was using his natural talents. Technically, I do have spider DNA, ergo it's completely natural talent."

It wasn't cheating compared to those who take supplements or tamper with equipment. No, what Jaune has isn't the usual foul play, not in his mind anyway.

Shooting two lines at two towers, he pulled the string to make him go higher in the air and made another dive.

"Alley - oop!" Upon reflex, Spidey grabbed a hold of a flag pole that was sticking out the ode of a random business structure.

Making a couple of twirls he let go after the fifth cycle launching him straight down another street. Gaining more motion by swinging web from web, Spider-Man was making his usual rounds near banks and late-night store when his spider sense began to tingle.

"Hmm, Survey says," Guided by his danger detection, he found his answer to be a bank that was currently being robbed, "Bank robbery! Dang, I was really hoping for a convenience hold up. I could string up the baddies, while also buying a coffee and hotdog, not the same as a hotdog stand, though I can't complain when I'm hungry."

 _'Is it the White Fang? They can't already be hitting something this big so soon. Maybe A.I.M again? Nah, Whitley said they mostly go for technology, so I'm sure they're not hurting when it comes to their pockets. Leaving the culprit to be…'_

"...Sandman?"

To the webslinger's shock, it was indeed Sandman who had walked out of the bank's entrance. The criminal was holding four heavy bags filled with Lien. Jaune then focused his eyes and saw that some jewelry was sticking out of Sandman's body, making him look like a poor representation of a crude ornament.

 _'He's free? How?! Last time I checked I turned him into a terrible looking statue.'_

Not being the only one to arrive at the crime scene, most likely from the bank silent alarm being set off. Two cop cars near the area sped through the street, stopped right in front of the bank, and a pair of cops from each of the two cars greeted the thief with pistols aimed right at him.

 _'Oh, geez, please, don't do the usual cop routine with a guy like this.'_

"Freeze! Drop the bags and put your hands up!" An officer screamed from the car to Flint Marko's left.

 _'Called it.'_

Not even putting up a fight, the man that can turn into a sand monster dropped his bags of loot and complied with the authorities.

Feeling brave, the two cops walked away from their car and approached the robber, all while still having their guns aimed dead center at his chest.

"That is so not a good idea," Even before his spider sense went off, Spider-Man jumped from where he was watching; ready to stop the two officers from walking to their doom.

 _ **THWIP! THWIP!**_

Shooting two weblines on their backs, he tugged with enough power to pull both fully grown men off their feet and away from Sandman.

And Just in the nick of time, too, if both cops had taken one step too close toward Sandman, they would've been on the receiving end of two large, pointy spikes made of sand that emerged from underneath the solid concrete sidewalk.

"Called it... Again," Spider-Man said out loud as he put the cops back to their feet. _'He must've distracted them long enough for his sand particles to dig deep enough to set up that trap.'_

"Open fire!" Thankful to see their brothers in blue had been saved, the remaining officers still next to their own car opened fire on Sandman.

The sudden barrage just set Sandman off even more, as each bullet kept passing right through him, with some hitting the jewelry imbedded within his body. Now recognized as a threat, Flint raised his right arm and formed a sand wall dense enough to absorb the ammo being fired at him.

Using his left arm, Flint morphed it to become four tendrils having each grab a bag. Guns obviously not slowing him down, the black suited hero turned to one of the officers he saved.

"Call for backup, but not to stop him, just to secure this street from any curious civilians." He requested. "I can stop him, but I can't save people if Sandman decides to take hostages. Please, you have to trust me."

Taking their chances helping a vigilante, rather than dealing with a near invincible creature, the cops called for backup to cordon off the street.

"Thank you, seriously, I appreciate it." He said gratefully before shooting a long webline.

"What are you going to do?" One of them asked.

"I don't see any cement nearby, so I'm going to have to improvise." Spider-Man answered. "Oh, also, please don't blame me for what I'm about to do. Okay, thank you, bye!"

Swinging above Flint, Spider-Man couldn't help but do his usual introduction. Swinging low enough to be within hearing range, Spider-Man called out to Flint who seemed to not even notice the man who put him behind bars was right next to him.

"Hey! Sandy, how's it going? Haven't seen you in a while, been up to no good lately?" Spider-Man taunted, trying to get a rise out of the criminal so he could stop running and fight him long enough for the police to arrive.

Completely ignoring Spider-Man's existence, Flint kept his pace as Spider-Man followed suit.

 _'This is new.'_ Usually, people would try to ignore his ramblings, only to give up in the end and acknowledge. But Flint was the first one to stick to his guns and just walk away from Spidey's trash talking. _'I guess this is what it feels like to ignore Flash when he trash talks about me. Oh my god! Does this mean... have I become the bully?!"_

The wall-crawler thought about it then shook his head, ' _Nah!'_

Speeding ahead of his enemy, the spider powered hero stopped in front of Sandman and began to make a large web wall to cut off his route.

"There," Spider-Man finished his work as the thick web net held strong. "This should stall him."

Then just to prove him wrong, Sandman morphed the lower-half of his body into extremely long sand-made stilts, walking over the wall of web with ease and continuing on to leave the crime scene.

"Dang it, I should have seen that coming. I forgot slapstick cartoon traps won't work on someone like him." Refusing to give up, Spider-Man went back to his default plan and began to trash talk some more. "You know, I like to think you're running away because you're afraid of me! Or else you would have already turned around to fight me by now!"

Finally stopping to acknowledge the pest, Sandman morphed himself to shift his front to his back, so he can now face Spider-Man.

"Oh, hey, now you're paying attention to me!" Spider-Man cheered only for his spider sense to warn him of imminent danger. "Oh, dang!"

Unleashing a dozen sand tendrils from his body, all of them shaped like spikes and many blunt objects, Sandman effortlessly controlled each limb individually as they relentlessly tried to kill their sole target.

Acting on body reflex, Spider-Man dodged and swerved from each strike that was aimed to kill.

"Spike!" The wall crawler called out what he dodged.

"Baseball bat!" He ducked when a sand-made baseball bat tried an overhead sweep attack.

"Buzzsaw?!" Arching his back, the circular blade didn't even nick his mask as Spidey perfectly timed his movement.

 _'I can't just keep moving away from these things. I need to start attacking, or else I could get overwhelmed.'_

Weaving in between the tendrils, going so far as to even strike some of the attacks that were too close for his comfort, Spidey began his counterattack. Then, just as he was about to hit one shaped like a giant mallet, it suddenly sprouted out more tendrils.

 _'I'm too close to dodge them all!'_

As he tried to attack some of the tendrils trying to grab him, the web head was soon captured once Sandman turned himself into a large sand wall which immediately collapsed onto him.

 _'Why didn't he do that from the start?'_ Spidey asked himself as he choked from the lack of air, struggling against the sheer weight of the sand hill slowly crushing him.

Morphing back into his human form, Flint Marko was pleased to find that he still retained all of the cash he had stolen and now had the satisfying bonus of Spider-Man trapped in his overly large left fist.

Shaking off some of the sand that clung to his mask, Spider-Man looked up to meet the stone cold glare of the Sandman, who now literally held the vigilante's life in the palm of his overly large hand.

"You caught me," Spidey sounded surprised. "First off, congrats, not a lot of people get to say that they caught the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man so easily. The next thing I want to say is please come quietly and wait for the cops to pick you up. Oh, yeah... you can also let me go, in that order or in reverse if you can!"

"Tch," Sandman clicked his tongue and gave Spider-Man a look of resentment. "Just leave me alone. I don't want to start breaking things just so you can take the hint that I don't want any trouble."

"I'm sorry," The hero tilted his head. "Did the part where you almost tried to impale two cops, not ten minutes ago, already escape your mind? Did stealing from another bank not cross your mind either? 'Cause I th- waaah!"

Raising his large sand fist above his head, Flint slammed Spider-Man head first into the solid road. He slammed the hero so hard into the ground that Spider-Man's legs were now the only visible part of his body, as the other half was now buried deeply into the ground.

"How in the hell do Roman, and that _woman_ , take you seriously?" Flint asked, more to himself rather than the Spider who was currently impersonating an ostrich. Having already wasted enough time, Flint resumed his escape, leaving the planted hero all by himself.

"Mmpf...! Mmppfh...!" Using his legs as anchors, the spider themed vigilante unplugged himself out of the street. He then pulled his mask up to his nose and took deep breaths, trying to return as much oxygen as he can to his lungs.

"Okay, got to admit," Now feeling better, Spider-Man pulled his mask back down and got back on his feet. "This night is not going as awesome as I thought it would be."

 _'That last hit really stung,'_ He rubbed the top of his head. If he had been a normal person, there was a strong chance he'd be paste on the street, after taking a slap with such strong a force as displayed by Marko. The teen hero can see a Huntsman surviving that, but even then they'd probably get a severe concussion.

"Glad I'm just fighting him and not those freaks again." Suddenly, a thought popped into his head. "Now that I think about it, I don't see Emerald and Mercury tailing the guy. Does this mean he's going solo or that they're just busy with another job?"

 _'I should probably check out Beacon and start "Interviewing" Cinder and her team some more. Wait, no, I can't. I still have practice the rest of the week.'_

"I'm beginning to see the downside of tryouts now." He sighed, the cold sensation of expectation meeting reality kicking in. "Welp, my nights ruined, so I guess it's time to wrap this up."

Swinging high into the air, Spidey shot another line to an apartment complex underneath him, pulled, and immediately placed himself on top of its roof. Scanning the roof, he found his much-needed tool for this job, which was a large water tank that had been bolted to the corner of the apartment's roof.

"Hope the super of this place isn't going to be mad about this!" Placing hands under the large tank, Spider-Man used his legs to do most of the lifting as he removed the large water tank from its hinges. "I'll bring it back after I'm done... or I'll just write an apology if I can't."

Careful so as to not lose any water, he jumped from rooftop to rooftop, hefting the tank on his back and quietly following Flint. The Sandman was still using the same street to try and get away from the cops.

 _'Lucky me, he hasn't noticed I'm tailing him. Otherwise, he would have turned into a sandstorm and turn this street into a beach.'_

"Wait for it." Getting ahead of his target, Spider-Man stopped right where the street reached a four-way lane. "This should be good. Now, I just need enough time to stop him and a little bit more to keep him immobilized." He then readied his special dust-web web shooters, the same ones he used to capture sandman last time. "And pouring in three… two…"

Right as Sandman reached the stoplight, from out of nowhere, a stream of water began to pour in front of him.

 **THWIP! THWIP! THWIP! THWIP!**

As the water was pouring down, the man made of sediment noticed that ice was beginning to form from the water, creating a crude yet solid wall of ice that blocked his escape route.

Forming a hammer with his fist to bust his way though, Flint stopped when he saw a large shadow envelop him and his surroundings. On reflex, he looked up and saw what was causing the shadow. It was a large opened water tank falling from the sky.

Unable to dodge in time, the watering tank completely trapped him, closing him off from everything. If it was just any regular trap, Flint Marko would have easily changed into his sand monster form and break it from the inside out. Unfortunately for him, that wasn't going to happen, as the remaining water within the tank was absorbed into his body, which was quickly becoming mud. It was now for the criminal to change his form into anything useful.

"I'll take this victory as a flawless end to this chase." Flipping from the top of the upside-down water container, the friendly neighborhood hero tapped his fist onto the steel material. "I measured the right amount of water in my head, so it shouldn't make you too soft, but also solid enough for you to still think straight."

 _'No death, no injury, and not even a large amount of damage to private property. Man, this night was way better than I thought it would be. I really shouldn't trust my imagination.'_

"Oh, wait," Spider-Man rubbed the back of his neck in realization. "I wonder if they'll use an industrial vacuum, because I hope I can take this thing back to where I found it. Sure, everyone living there will be pissed to know they won't be having water for a while... super sorry."

 _'Oh my god, I forgot to take pictures of this! J.J would probably pay a bit more to see Sandman free and running from the cops, but I don't want to take any chances.'_

"Speaking of chances," The sound of police sirens could be heard not too far from where he was standing. "I'm betting they're gonna take a chance at ordering me to surrender, so I think I'll just hit the old web-swinging trail and go home."

 _'Guess I should write that apology letter while I'm at it too.'_

* * *

Some of the police officers that had arrived were told by the two cops Spider-Man saved what had happened. They reported that Flint Marko, alias Sandman, was seen exiting a bank with large bags of stolen lien in his hands.

What happened next was that they tried to arrest him, only to be saved by Vale's one and only vigilante/celebrity hero, the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Following that, Spider-Man asked to have more reinforcements steer traffic and pedestrians away from the street Flint had been using. He didn't want any civilians to get hurt if things escalated.

It took more than ten minutes for the police to place several barricades so as to prevent people from entering that specific street. The officer in charge was none other than Captain Stacy, who had been coordinating the manhunt for Marko. The manhunt was called off once it was found that the local hero had finally subdued the super powered criminal.

"I came here expecting to see some mayhem like that highway incident," The captain of Vale's police force muttered as he watched his boys in blue figure out how to remove the huge container. "Instead, I was left blocking off roads and directing traffic for a 'fight' that ended just as we finished setting up."

The captain was angry that he had wasted time and valuable manpower, but it was for the best that it ended so soon.

"The higher ups might rip me a new one, but I can't really disagree with how well things ended."

"Two cops, somewhat bruised rather than dead, property damage that's honestly miniscule compared to that robot fiasco, and Sandman escaping only to be caught again is nothing short of a miracle."

 _'Maybe I should go home and get some sleep, Gwen always did say my job was going to give me premature grey hairs. Yeah, right, compared to her dealing with those hellions she calls kids, I'd rather deal with nutjobs in costumes then dealing with children that apparently start a mutiny every other Friday.'_

His thoughts regarding Gwen's summer councilor job ended when he heard the sound of metal grinding against cement.

"What the hell are you doing!?" He shouted at several cops, half of whom have wrapped chains around Marko's make-shift prison, while the rest had fastened the other end to the fenders of three squad cars.

"Didn't I tell you to get on the horn and call for a crane!? Why are you doing this?" Capt. Stacy demanded of his fellow officers.

"The Crane won't be here for another hour, sir." One of the cops answered. "Thought we could try and get this thing loose before they arrive."

"Welp, guess I'll call Gwen to let her know she's going to eat dinner alone, again." Feeling like now was the right time to smoke, the Captain stepped away from the scene of the crime to take a small break. "Just make sure you don't spill him all over the streets!"

The captain blinked, realizing what he had just said. _'I know I need a vacation when I start saying stuff like that as though it's completely normal.'_

"Yes, sir!" They all said in unison and got back to work.

"Okay, Jensen, just be careful when you put it in reverse!" A young, uniformed officer named Charles Palomo ordered in what he thought was a calm voice.

"Don't yell at me!" Replied a female officer named Katie Jensen as she revved the engine and put the gear in reverse.

"I'm not yelling at you, just trying to tell you to be careful when you go in reverse!" Palomo shouted, only time it was on purpose.

"You're both yelling!" Screamed a third policeman named John E. Andersmith, who was trying to play peacemaker between his friends.

But as the three officers bicker amongst one another, they failed to notice what was happening right underneath their feet. Small cracks began to form in the pavement, only to grow larger under the weight of the large reinforced steel tank. As the cracks grew, a minute amount of wet sand began to spill into the cement crevice.

"Guys, let's hurry up, I have a donut to eat that's still on my desk." A head popped out from the side window. "Seriously, it's glazed, I've been saving it for a week, and I don't want anyone else grabbing it."

"Shut up, Bitters!" Andersmith, Jensen, and Palomo shouted in unison.

The small wet sand was starting to dry after being exposed to the open air, giving Flint Marko a much clearer head to focus on what happens next. Not having enough sand particulates to manipulate, he couldn't go full frontal and take on so many cops.

Using as much mental power as he can muster, Marko found that his only option, which was also the safest, was to escape though the sewer system. Luck seemed to favor him tonight, for a sewer drain was just close enough for him to sneak away to, completely unnoticed by the bickering officers.

 _'Need…. To… escape…..'_ Willing his scattered mind back together, Flint slowly inched his way to freedom. _'Can't… waste… another second...'_

Making it to the grate, he allowed his mass to thin out and fall between the steel bars, falling through to the sewer system, and landing on a pathway used by sanitation workers. Now free to summon the rest of his body, Sandman commanded the rest to follow, only for a new issue to be found. To his shock, the rest of his sedimentary body was still trapped in its new prison.

 _'Can't… take it all….'_ Gaining as much sand that he could control, Flint Marko had no other choice but to cut his losses and leave the rest of his sedimentary mass to the cops. _'This… is enough… need... more… sand to… get stronger.'_

Slinking into the shadow of the sewers below, the Sandman once again escaped the authorities. What the cops on the street had thought was a defeated criminal they have safely contained was nothing but a decoy. Leaving half of the force behind to take care of the clean-up and traffic control, the remainder escorted 'Sandman' back to the prison on Ryker's Island, where they'll make sure to double the number of guards to protect his cell.

In the end, what they were guarding will have been all for naught. For while the attention the police was focused on recapturing Sandman, their single-minded focus on this task gave a certain group of people the perfect opportunity to help another criminal escape.

A new, more powerful threat was soon to emerge.

* * *

"Jaune," Aunt May sat across from her tenant, who was playing with his eggs. "Is something on your mind?"

"Huh?" Now paying attention to what she was saying, Jaune sat up straight and stopped messing around with his food. "Sorry, Aunt May, I was just thinking about what'll happen with school is all."

"Oh, you mean how you're trying to join the football team, right?" She remembered when he told her of his first practice, how he was practically bouncing as he told her how much fun he had. To see him act so excited about a sport made her proud, but she was still worried. "Is it too stressful?"

"No, no," Jaune truthfully said, having just recently endure a situation far more stressful than football. "Harry's trying out too, and he was the first one to consider the idea. Both of us are good at it, but I feel like if I do join, it'll just add to the ever-growing list of responsibilities in my life. Not to mention that I never really knew how fun it was playing a sport. I was mostly just there to help Harry look better compared to me. Now, I don't know if I should keep doing it."

As he spoke that part of the story, his mind grappled with the other half.

 _'Though what I'm saying is true. What's mostly on my mind is that I don't want to overwork myself to death. Plus, Ruby and Blake are watching me play and if I do decide to fail, miserably at that, I won't get picked. There's a small part of me that doesn't want to see Ruby upset that I didn't get picked. I would feel even more disappointed in myself if I let her down. I know being Spider-Man takes precedence, but with how financially secure I am, I should be able to at least not worry about some of my troubles, right?'_

May was silent after listening to his explanation behind his feelings. Her answer to Jaune's dilemma was to get up from her seat, walk over behind him and to wrap her arms around in a hug. She had often done the same for Ben, when he had problems he couldn't solve.

"Jaune," She said with care. "Ever since we met you have always thought of others before yourself. You have a big heart and that's what made Ben and I so happy to have had you in our lives. I'd like to think that if we ever had a son, Ben and I would've been proud if he grew up to be just like you."

"Aunt May." Jaune felt comfortable being embraced by her. It reminded him of his own mother. _'I wonder how she and the rest of my family are doing? Darn it, don't ruin the moment, Jaune. Just enjoy this embrace.'_

"It's okay to be selfish sometimes." She started to talk some more. "You're set up for a good college, have wonderful friends, and now you're doing so well at sports too. Jaune, I think you're just afraid to admit what you truly want to do with all these many good things in your life."

"Really?" He asked.

"I think you know what you have to do, Jaune. You're afraid that whatever decisions you make could affect everyone. Everything we do in life, no matter how big or small, are decided by choices. Even when it hurts like heck, you need to see your choices through."

"But Harry... I feel like if there is a chance he won't get picked because of me… he was more invested in football then me and I don't..."

"He's your best friend, Jaune. He can never blame you for a decision someone else made. " She reassured him.

"Yeah, I think I understand a little bit better now." He felt a little bit better after hearing May's speech.

He thought about her words, _'Aunt May's right. Before I met Whitley and everyone else, I always had a hard time juggling everything in my life, from School to work and even Spider-Man, just so I can maintain what little I had left of a stable life. That was then and now I have so many good things coming my way.'_

"Thank you so much, Aunt May." Removing himself from her embrace, Jaune stood up and returned her kind gesture by hugging her.

"Any time dear," As she hugged him, Aunt May looked over to the kitchen clock and immediately pushed Jaune out of the embrace. "You need to go soon! The bus will be arriving in five minutes!"

"What..." Jaune froze than looked at the time. "We've only been talking for a few minutes!"

"Emotional breakthroughs always feel the longest, Jaune." Aunt May explained before she resumed eating her breakfast.

Gulping down the last of his breakfast, Jaune gave his surrogate Aunt a quick peck on the cheek, grabbed his school bag, and dashed to the bus stop, ready to start another day at school.

* * *

"Set! Hike!" Shouting for the match to begin, the captain of the football team, Flash Thompson, looked for the right time to throw the ball to one of his teammates.

In the corner of his left eye, Flash could see one of his teammates, another senior wearing a jersey with the number 45 printed upon it, who was half way to the visitor's goal. Feeling now was the right moment, Flash took a step back, reared his throwing hand back, and whipped his arm forward, performing a flawless throw right to his target.

Raising his arms in the air to catch it, player 45 caught the ball, turned his body around, and pushed his legs to the end zone. It was sure to be an impressive touchdown.

"Gaah! Oof!'

45 took only three steps before Jaune came out of nowhere and rushed him, tackling him to the ground. The downed player let out a disappointed wheeze as he dropped the ball.

"That's game!" The Coach shouted before blowing his whistle, ending the practice. the coach looked down on his clip board and then started to bark orders. "Good tackle, Jaune! That's the stuff I like to see!"

Removing his helmet, Jaune gave the man a lopsided grin. "Thanks, Coach." Extending his arm down to his fellow senior, Jaune pulled him back on his feet and tapped his shoulder. "Good game."

"I should say that to you." Player 45 complimented, not holding any grudge for being tackled to the ground. "Nice take down, Jaune, didn't know you had it in you."

"Thanks." Jaune tapped his helmet with that of his fellow senior's. Jaune walked back to the bench to rest before he was called out to play again.

"Jaune, you did awesome!" He heard Ruby praise from the stands. The young wall-crawler turned in his seat and waved at her.

"Thanks, Ruby!" Jaune's eyes roamed to Ruby's right to look at the second person who came to visit him at practice, "And, uh, hello to you too, Blake!"

"Jaune," The bow wearing Huntress-in-training greeted, politely nodding at the blonde high school student.

After waving at them in greeting, Jaune rose from where he was sitting and walked over to them. After climbing a few steps, the young football player found himself standing next to the girls.

"Wow, Jaune. The way you stopped that guy so quickly was amazing!" For some reason, Jaune swore that he saw stars sparkling around Ruby's grinning face. Maybe that tackle hurt him more than it did the other guy.

"Thanks, I'm just trying to get back into the groove of things," Jaune scratched his left cheek. "I was kind of fumbling from the beginning, but after a few plays I think I'm getting the hang of it."

It was a lie; Jaune knew this, since all he'd been doing since try-outs began was to try and make himself out to look like a bad player. He knew that people would start to get suspicious if he just suddenly got worse out of nowhere. That is, until he had his talk with Aunt May.

It was then that he came up with a plan. The plan involved him still doing his best when playing, while also sometimes losing some of the matches.

Sometimes he'll catch the ball, sometimes not at all. Other times, he's outrun some of the stronger players, but would let himself get outpaced by the ones who were more used to sprinting. He'd throw the ball decently a couple of times and other times he'd delay his throws long enough to let someone tackle him.

All in all, Jaune's performance thus far hasn't raised any suspicions. For all intents and purposes, it could be said that Jaune Arc was nothing more than an average athlete compared to his fellow seniors.

He knew that his plan was a bit of a stretch and that it sounded flimsy, but Jaune was certain that none of the other players or the coach were going to call him out on it. His plan may have some merit to it, in his opinion.

"Now, if you really want to see an amazing performance, look who's playing next." Jaune smiled as he pointed his thumb behind him, which drew the girl's attention back toward the field.

Jaune didn't need to look to know that his best friend was absolutely dominating on the football field. It seemed that while Jaune was lagging behind in skill, Harry's own skill was improving. The Oscorp heir's standing among their peers was quickly rising, as he effortlessly scored touchdown after touchdown.

Making a side glance, Jaune smirked as he watched his friend getting along with some of the other players. It was a feeling more satisfying than his own personal success, doing what he does best, which was helping his friend. It was for the best, in Jaune's opinion. He looked back to his other two friends.

"Harry's getting better with each practice." He said with pride. "His confidence has really grown too."

"Don't sell yourself short, Jaune. You've gone really far too!" Ruby told him in support.

"You do seem to have a more carefree attitude every time you play." Blake added in her own thoughts to the conversation. "It looked like you were enjoying yourself out there."

 _'I was, wasn't I?'_ The thought did cross his mind. Maybe it was because it felt somewhat liberating to use his natural talents for something other than vigilantism. Or it was his just insecurities still getting the better of him.

"To be honest, yeah, guess I never really thought about doing things like this when I was a kid. I always enjoyed watching my family training and to be honest, what they did made sports look lame by comparison. Looking back now, I can honestly say that sports aren't half-bad."

 _'Was I missing out on stuff like this back in Ansel? I guess when you see your family train with awesome weapons and super cool abilities; you tend to lose interest in regular things like sports.'_

Suddenly, the sound of a whistle being blown was heard, reminding Jaune that practice was still in progress. He then heard the coach shout, "Arc, get back on the field now!"

"Huh, that match was actually pretty quick." Ruby said in surprise. To her, their conversation seemed much longer than it was.

"I'm not surprised, Harry's just so in the zone when he's playing. It'd be a total shock if Coach didn't put him on the team."

"But what about you, Jaune," This time, it was Blake who seemed the most forward and not Ruby. "You think you won't get picked?"

"Oh, I'm sure I will." Jaune shrugged his shoulders. "Or I won't, Harry seems to be improving faster than the other guys, but I wouldn't want to dismiss some of the other students trying out too."

"Hmm, I see your point." Blake crossed her arms. "But still, won't you be disappointed if you don't join? I'm sure someone like you still has some more skills to show off."

"Honestly, I think it is just good genetics. My natural skills had to come from somewhere, right?"

"I think you're as skilled as some other people I know." Blake's hidden cat ears twitched.

"Um," Ruby didn't know where this conversation was heading, so she thought it a good time to switch topics. "I think you should get ready, Jaune. Your coach might call your name out again."

"Oh, right!" Jaune thanked Ruby for reminding him and left the two girls by themselves again at the bleachers. As he left the stands, he called out to the girls. "We'll talk later!"

Walking to the field, Jaune saw Harry heading to the benches in the same direction as him.

"Nice moves, Harry!" Jaune complimented as raised his helmet to his friend.

"Thanks, Jaune." The young Osborn smacked his helmet against Jaune's in place of a fist bump. "You're doing pretty well yourself."

"Thanks, dude." Jaune put on his helmet. "We'll talk more after this, yeah?"

"You know it! Just make sure you do your best!

"I intend to." Jaune slapped his hands against the sides of his helmet and jogged to middle of the field to get started on practice.

* * *

"That one went a lot faster than the others." Ruby said as both girls walked alongside Jaune and Harry out of the football field.

Practice was now over. As it was before with the other try-outs, the group of students trying to join the team was now considerably smaller. Jaune and Harry were among the lucky few to have passed another try-out, increasing their chances of becoming proud members of the Midtown High Tigers.

"Less people mean less time being used." Harry told her. "I'm just happy that tomorrow is the last practice before coach tells us who made the cut."

"Just means giving us enough time for us to see Gwen and tell her the news." Jaune suggested. He remembered that she was working with a professor that owned a lab near the school. Telling her the good news now while they still had daylight to spare sounded like a good idea.

"Unfortunately, we can't join you guys for that." Jaune and Harry stopped in their tracks and turned to look at the black-haired huntress.

"Is it because of how much time you have left outside Beacon?" Jaune asked.

"Do they have curfew?" Harry asked his friend, not understanding his statement.

"Y-yeah," Jaune said, trying to cover up his mistake. "Weekdays they have a set amount of time to be outside of their academy before they need to go back. Right, Blake?"

"Yeah, Jaune's right." Blake didn't even lose her composure as she played along with Jaune's lie.

"Blake's right, but it's not just that." Ruby chimed in, so that Blake could take a step back. "We kind of got tied up in a dance committee."

"You mean like prom?" Harry raised an eyebrow.

"What's a prom?" The young weapons enthusiast asked, tilting her head in confusion. Jaune and Harry just stared at the girl in surprise. Blake just shook her head at her leader's surprising lack of common knowledge.

"Please tell me you didn't just say that." Harry looked back to Jaune in shock. "She can't be serious, right?"

"Ruby," It was Jaune's turn to explain things. "Prom is like a big school dance that school's like mine hold every year or so, usually at the end of the school year. It's mostly for the seniors, who vote for two students to be crowned prom 'king' and 'queen.' Don't they have any at your schools?"

Now, it was Blake's turn to explain things. "Our school trains and teaches us important survival and combat skills, from the basics all the way up to the more advanced levels. Huntsmen schools can't just drop all of that just throw students some unnecessary par-"

"Oh! Then yes, my last school had one of those too!" The silver eyed girl answered.

"Eh- well, I, uhm... Okay, there are a _few_ exceptions." Blake gave up and sighed. She didn't really have anything else to say on the matter, choosing to stay silent now.

"Yeah, except Signal didn't have something like that 'prom' thing. Our village didn't really have that in the civilian schools either. My dad said there were never enough students to have one. It was usually just a big party where the adults kept an eye on us while we just awkwardly talked to each another."

"You guys didn't dance or anything?" Harry asked, genuinely interested to hear the rest of Ruby's story.

"No, some of us just talked with our friends or some just stayed on opposite sides while the music kept playing." Ruby explained as though it weren't anything special.

"Huh, I guess whether you're a regular person or an aspiring hunter, awkward teenaged phases are just a universal constant." Jaune had long suspected that, having seen many of his sisters go through similar experience. But to hear it from Ruby made him feel a little more comfortable. "Well, it's nice to see you guys cheer us on. I don't want you guys to be late for that dance committee, so I guess we can split ways here. Next time, why don't you tell me what themes you're planning? Anyway, you two have a nice day!"

"See you tomorrow, Jaune!" Ruby promised with an excited smile.

Ruby then turned on her heel to leave. Blake simply gave the two young men a polite nod and then joined her leader. As they walked away, Ruby looked back and shouted.

"I have no doubt in my mind you'll get drafted. You don't need to fool yourself, Jaune." She then looked at the young Osborn, "Oh and best of luck to you too, Harry! You're a shoe-in for sure!"

After watching the two student huntresses leave them behind, Jaune and Harry continued on their to Gwen's work. Once they reached the place, both teens couldn't help but stare in awe at the building. The building itself was somewhat large, looking big enough to have its own telescope. Its pristine white walls and flawlessly wiped windows showed that great care was put into its upkeep. Jaune couldn't explain why, but he could feel that the place just oozed of scientific progress and innovation. It was no wonder why Gwen enjoyed working here.

"This place is pretty nice." Harry complimented the semi-large science building. "I wonder what it looks like inside."

"We're about to find out." Jaune opened the front door and motioned Harry to go inside first. "Come on, let's go see Gwen."

* * *

"Wow! She wasn't fooling when she said this guy's a scientist." Upon entering the lab, Jaune was honestly impressed seeing all the doubtlessly expensive and irreplaceable equipment scattered about the main laboratory.

Moving his sights across the room, Jaune could only hear the hum of machines doing their work. What made this seem out of place though was that no one was here manning the equipment.

"Gwen!" Harry shouted her name, shattering the silence in the lab, "Gwen!? Where is she?"

"I'm right here!" Looking to their right, Harry and Jaune saw Gwen walking out of an office. "Can you guys get any louder?"

"That was actually Harry." Jaune told her.

"I was in the middle of talking to the Professor and you inter-"

"Gwen?" The three friends looked back to see a middle-aged man wearing a white lab coat exit from what Jaune assumed was his office. "Are these the friends you told me about?"

"Dr. Connors!" Stepping to the side, so that her boss can get a good look at her friends, Gwen started to formally introduce them. "Yup, the blonde there is Jaune and the other guy's Harry. They're my friends from school. Guys, this is Doctor Curt Connors, the best boss I've ever had."

The doctor chuckled at Gwen's praise.

"It's nice to meet you, sir." Jaune said with respect, raising his right hand to shake the doctor's.

Dr. Connors looked at the offered hand for a few seconds, but then raised his left hand for the shake. "And you as well, Jaune."

As the doctor shook Jaune's right hand with his left, the young man wondered why the man hadn't used his right hand. He looked at the man's right arm and found the answer to his question. Rather than a hand, the blonde saw an empty sleeve hanging loosely to the man's side.

The man only had one arm and Jaune had just assumed he would shake with his right hand.

 _'OH FU-'_ Jaune immediately released his grip on the man's hand.

"I am sooooo sorry!" Standing at attention, Jaune held his hands up and apologized. "I didn't mean it! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to offend you! I'm sorry. That lab coat was really misleading! I'm Sorry-"

"Whoa, Whoa, Easy there, son, no need to get so worked up." Raising his only arm to Jaune's shoulder, Connors placed a reassuring hand on the young teen's shoulder to calm him down. "It's quite aright, young man. Trust me when I say this, but you're not the first person to make that mistake."

"Uh, sir," The only adult in the lab looked to see Gwen's second friend, Harry who looked conflicted for some reason. "What, uh, about your situation… was it from a Grimm attack or…"

"Harry," Gwen punched the Osborn's shoulder for his disrespect. "I mean, _seriously_?"

"It's alright, Gwen." The Doctor reassured his assistant. He then looked to Harry, "It wasn't from the Grimm." Not feeling offended in the slightest by the question, the doctor went on to explain how he lost his arm. "I used to be in the Valean military as a combat medic. I lost this arm when I was caught in a large explosion. I survived, as you can see, but they couldn't save my arm and had to amputate."

Hearing his story, the two boys kept silent as an awkward silence filled the room.

"Curt, who are these boys?" Another voice called out from the doctor's office. An auburn haired woman, who also wore a lab coat, stepped out. She then walked over and stood next to the one-armed scientist.

"These boys," The doctor raised his left arm, "are Gwen's friends from school. Boys, this beauty before you is my wife, partner, and the mother of our son, Martha. She also works here and we've been happily married for over a decade."

Martha kissed her husband on the cheek. Curt smiled and gave her a quick peck on her own cheek. Jaune couldn't help but smile at the sight. From what he can see, the Connors had a very happy and healthy marriage. He hoped that one day he could have what they had. All he need to was find the right girl first.

"It's nice to meet you boys." Martha told them. "What brings you boys here?"

The Teenaged boys told the married couple and Gwen the reason for their presence, having wanted to tell their friend that they are still trying out for football and that tomorrow is the day when the coach decides who will be part of the team.

"So, I guess your plan to get popular is actually working out, Harry." Gwen Stacy patted the rich teen's shoulder. "Now, all you need to do with your newfound popularity is to try and get a girl to go out with you to homecoming."

"Actually," Harry's widened as an idea popped into his head. "Dude, do you think your friends could be our dates?"

The blonde didn't answer right away, his mind going over what Harry had asked him. It was not three seconds later did Jaune finally give an answer.

"Nope," He slowly shook his head side to side to emphasize how wrong that questions was.

 _'I can already imagine what it would be like for Blake if she even decided to do such a thing. I feel like Ruby would do fine, she would just stay around her friends, but the rest of their team? I imagine that the entire night would consist of guys getting their asses handed to them if they tried anything on them. If not the girls from Beacon, then the girls from Midtown would probably be pissed at their dates.'_

"I can't just ask them to tag along. They're part of some committee to set up their own dance at Beacon too. I'm even sure that their School's policy is that you need to be a student to even go to their dance."

 _'I'm just making this up as I go, but I just don't feel like getting even more attention if I walk alongside Blake or a handful of Huntresses who look like super models in dresses beside me.'_

"Knew that was a long shot," Harry snapped his fingers, "Okay, I guess we'll just have to wing it once we cross that bridge."

"I hope you two dorks getting a date would be easier then joining the football team. Best of luck to you guys!"

"Thanks, Gwen," Osborn Jr. waved his hand and started to walk to the exit. "Jaune and I just wanted to tell you about it."

"Yeah, we just wanted to let you know about our progress. We'll leave now, so we won't interrupt your work. Thank you for your time, Mr. and Mrs. Connors. We're even more thankful for you hiring Gwen." Saying his goodbyes, Jaune waved his hand and followed behind Harry as they left the same way they entered.

"It was nice meeting you boys!" Mrs. Connors said, raising her voice so that she can be heard.

"Stop by whenever you feel like!" Mr. Connors offered, raising his voice did the same as his wife by making his tone a little bit louder.

"Yeah, come by and- wait a minute." Realization dawned on Gwen as she realized what Jaune had just said seconds ago. "What do you mean _you're_ thankful I got hired?!"

* * *

 **Ok, let me drop some news for you guys. First off, this is the last part for the football arc. Jaune knows he can't just instantly suck, so he is just toning it down to be around average with the other players. Jaune has his life in track for now, so pushing him with some life lesson seems like a jerk move to do. So, that's why I want him to have him to at least have fun doing something he never did when he was a kid. We never really get much depth about the characters from RWBY, so I can assume that Jaune never knew what it's like to win at sports.**

 **I'm sure all of you got tired with how Peter gets caught up with stuff like this and always declines something that could be helpful to him. But for Jaune, he will still try his best, but not go full serious this time. I know I put too many similarities to the two, but some will be tweaked, like how Jaune is performing in football. He's still a teen, which is why he's getting the chance to act like one with the help of playing sports. You guys already know how chaotic he has it, so in the next chapter he will finally makes some choices that can finally lessen his work load!**

 **The second news is that the next chapter will be the dance arc, YAY, so get ready for more teen drama and a new development to the story. Jaune will need to find a date, team RWBY will have to find dates too, but the thing about the situation is that both can't go to each other's schools due to how both being completely different! Not to mention how team RWBY is kind of grounded, but don't worry, this is part of what I have in mind later.**

 **Sandman is free, but he can't escape his old habits, but he was just a distraction for the next villain Jaune will face after the Beacon dance arc is over. Cinder has not gotten word about this yet, but with how the fake Sandman is in jail, Cinder will just drop it and get back to her own plans for Beacon.**

 **For my third news, I might take the next month a bit slow, since I will be on vacation exploring a bit of Japan for myself. Got to see the world and all that jazz, you know?**

 **Anyway, makes sire to fav, follow, and also check out my Beta's work after this chapter. Thank you very much for reading and I hope you guys will enjoy the next chapter!**

* * *

 **[Omake] Roman's Big Break**

Life was hard. It was a well-known fact to anyone. Even those who have more money than others have some minor setbacks that would be labeled as _'terrible'_. Like not buying your 12-year-old a sports car, getting a 4-star meal from a 5-star restaurant, or some other luxury BS people with lien to burn complain about.

For Roman Torchwick, one of the constant hardships in his life would have to be goody-goody Hunters. Specifically, the type of hunters whom somehow, even without holding licenses and being below legal hunter's age, find a way of throwing wrenches into his plans. But he could have handled that.

But then, there came another hardship in his already stressful life. One in the form of some freak wearing what used to be a silly red jumpsuit with a torn blue hoodie. But now, it seemed that the little spider has turned into a gimp with how much black he was wearing now. Roman assumed it to be leather that Spider-Man was wearing.

He doesn't know why, but it felt like the people he's fighting now are getting younger and _weirder_ these days.

The renowned thief was lounging in his office, inside one of the many safe houses he accumulated from time spent working under the previous boss who made this criminal organization.

Yes, if he was glad for one thing, it was for the fact that he stayed loyal enough, or just lucky, to find an opportunity to fill in the gap that his boss left when he disappeared.

But that was a story for another time. Right now, the only thing on Roman's mind was figuring out his plans for the future.

"We need a vacation. Don't you agree, Neo?" Roman leaned on the armrest to look at his silent companion, who had taken to indulging herself with a tub of ice cream. With her short, childlike stature and how she practically preened with every spoonful of ice cream, Roman would have thought her little display adorable.

Well, it would've been adorable if it weren't for the fact that her boots had a very high amount of dried blood specks upon them.

"Maybe Kuchinashi or Mistral," He thought of those two kingdoms and then tossed that idea away. "Nah, what am I thinking? Mistral is Fang territory now and not to sound racist, but I don't really expect all of them to be kind to humans. Kuchinashi is a definite no. I'm a thief, but going to Kuchinashi is like stepping into a kitchen with too many cooks. Everyone will be swindling everyone, and I don't want that kind of hassle when it comes to stepping in on someone else's turf."

The murderous mute stopped eating, blinked at Roman five times, and then went straight back to eating.

"Atlas..." Roman thought about that idea. "So many suckers who think they're the smartest in the room, it does sound tempting to try and pull a fast one over them." Then he rejected the idea. "Then again, I hear they've got their very own ' _Superhero'_ protecting them now."

He looked to Neo, hoping she had any more suggestion. The girl just shrugged her tiny shoulders, showing that she's out of ideas.

Roman sank further down into his cushioned office chair. The master criminal swiveled his head to his left, looking through the interior office window to see what his warehouse had in storage. To his silent anger, he found that it was practically empty, with very few crates and barrels that were nearly empty themselves.

He then heard a knock at the door.

"Enter." He said just as the doorknob began to turn.

The door slowly opened just a crack, only for it to close again.

"Hey, I said enter!" Roman shouted in rage. He didn't have time for whatever stupidity his men were subjecting him to. It upset him that he can't just kill stupid henchmen, considering he didn't have that many men left. He had to work with who he had, even if they were scraped from the bottom of the barrel.

Roman tried to scream again, only to stop when he heard the air vent begin to rattle.

Looking up to the ceiling, he saw a wave of sand particles fall from the opened grate, landing in a steadily-rising mound in the center of his office.

Raising his newly formed cane in a defensive stance, Roman watched as the pile of sand rose up and started to take the form of a fully-grown man, one who had made quite the name for himself in the past month.

"Roman," the fully formed Flint Marko calmly greeted, staring down his former employer.

"Flint," Roman didn't lower his cane at the sight of his former lackey. "How'd you find this place?"

"I've been here before, Roman. You just never noticed, since I was a nameless nobody when I worked for you."

Roman just rolled his eyes. _'It's not my fault I can't keep track of every sorry two-bit rent-a-thug who works for me. I mostly leave all that Info to Junior and his gruesome twosome.'_

"I need your help," The Sandman said.

"Oh?" Roman's interest was piqued. "I thought you didn't really want anything to deal with my discussion we had before. What changed your mind? Not liking your new boss?"

"I'm a freelancer now." He said truthfully. "And I'm here to see if you still have an open employment spot for me."

"Really," The ginger-haired thief shook his head at Neo, who kept her parasol aimed right behind Flint's head. "I thought you tried to take a chance with Cinder and her killer kids. You seemed to get along well with those murderous munchkins."

"I'd rather deal with the devil I know rather than the one I don't." Sandman admitted truthfully. His desperation was evident to the two killers in the room. "So, are you hiring?"

Roman Torchwick sat back in his chair and pulled out a cigar from his desk drawer. He lit it with his cane and smiled in joy. It's been a while since he'd caught a break like this.

"Well, Sandman, you're in luck. You're not just hired, but you've also gotten yourself a promotion."

The thief reached down into the drawer and pulled something out. He then chucked the unknown object right into the Sandman's hands. To the man's surprise, it was a wad of lien.

"Get yourself something nice. I've got big plans for you... And the first step of my plan is making sure you know my taste in fashion."


	33. Chapter 33

**Disclaimer: Brotherhoof12 doesn't own RWBY or Spider-Man, the two belongs to their respective creators.**

* * *

 **(Chapter 33: The dance. Part 1)**

* * *

"I know this is sudden, but let me explain." Jaune sat across from someone at the table, his face serious as he started talking. "I have so much now, really for the good rather than the bad. Let me back up a bit so you can understand better. In the beginning, I had no one when I got here in Vale, but a nice couple took me in when I was at my lowest. They put me back on my feet and I felt that I needed to pay them back, even though they didn't want anything in return for their efforts."

Soon, his expression shifted into a somber look. "I wanted a job, any job that can help me get more independent, so I can finally show that caring couple that I've fully recovered. Then, well… I got a job, but I stayed to help after a bad incident that left a big hole in someone's life. Anyway, one job became two, then two to three, and now another thing that's happening at my school-oh, yeah. I'm in school too thanks to them, so that's another good deed in the long list they did for me."

"Jaune," The person who Jaune was talking to is revealed to be Mr. McCarran, the owner of the dust store. They were using the back room to talk about why the 17 year old needed to speak to his boss. "You don't have to tell me all this, I'm friends with the Parkers."

"Sorry." He winced at how lost track of why he was talking to his boss. "I kind of got carried away there. The reason I'm talking to you now is cause I'm quitting, Mr. McCarren. Not because you're a bad boss or that I don't like working here, you're one of the kindest and understanding boss I know, and I have my share of terrible bosses."

"I see, so is it just school work catching up to you or…?"

"Not just that, but I'm also doing a major project that requires me to talk to some important people for an article I'm in charge of."

"Sounds like you really do have a lot for someone so young." The older male scratched his chin and closed his eyes in thought. "...Alright, I understand, Jaune. From now on, you no longer work for me. But I got to ask you this, does May know you're doing this?"

"Told her a day before," Jaune told his now former boss. "I wanted to talk to you rather than call you. It felt more professional if I talk to you rather than letting her break the news instead."

"That's good to hear." He nodded his head in approval of the teen's maturity. "It's sad that I'm losing one of my employees, but I'm happy to know how much you've started to branch out, Jaune."

"Thank you, Mr. McCarron." Jaune was extremely grateful for his kind words. "Even though I'm no longer working for you, I'll still come by just to talk! I'm sure Amy and Joe will cover most of what I do, so much so that I doubt you need my help at all."

"Still," The man get up from his chair. "I know that it would eventually happen, sooner or later. I'm just happy to know that your hard work is finally showing."

"Thank you, I really am grateful for the help." Jaune stood up as well and walked around the table before wrapping his arms around his former employer. "Take care, Mr. McCarren."

"Don't worry about me," He patted the teen's back. "Just keep your head up and stay focused. Don't get distracted with what life throws at you, understand?"

Releasing the hug, Jaune nodded his head at the sound advice given to him.

With the talk over, the two walked to the front of the store and saw the early morning sun starting to rise, signaling them that it was almost time to open. "I should start heading over to the diner to talk to Ms. Charles."

"You're going to talk to her about your termination too?"

"Ms. Charles is always grumpy when she's at work, so I honestly hope that when I tell her about quitting, it will go by quickly."

"I'm sure she will, Jaune." Mr. McCarron assured the blonde teen.

* * *

"You're fired!"

' _Oh, wow, it seems I don't really have to_ _explain,_ _after all.'_

Jaune entered his second job not two minutes before Ms. Charles, the manager of the establishment, opened the door from her office and just told Jaune Arc he was fired.

"But I didn't say anything yet!" Jaune replied not a second later to her outburst.

' _Did Aunt May call and tell her? No, I told her the same day I said I would quit my other job that I would talk to them.'_

"You didn't have to say anything, I can read you like a book." Her usual cranky self was starting even before the diner was about to open. "You barely show up and also call a day or so to let me know you can't make it to your shifts. May was the one who asked me to have you serve tables and now that you keep being absent, I have no other choice but to let you go."

Jaune winced, each jab was just a reminder why he needed to quit, but it seems he didn't really have time to explain when Ms. Charles suddenly tossed an envelope at him.

Seeing that it was nor sealed, Jaune opened the envelope and saw a check inside.

"What's this?"

"Your severance pay." She answered him. "It's your final paycheck from me."

About to say something again, Jaune's 2nd ex-boss cut him off again, only this time, she talked in a more professional tone then her usual loud self.

"You still performed far better then the usual teens who work here. You don't complain about your shift, you show actual kindness than the fake smiles most of us show to the customers, and you're getting much more in this check than the other ingrates I've fired."

' _Should I really be hearing that last part?'_

Walking past the now fired waiter, the manager opened the front door to the diner and motioned him to leave.

"I can already see that a kid like you has better places to be than just wasting it here cleaning tables. If you have just a decent shred of confidence, you can see like everyone else around you that you don't belong here."

Speechless to hear kind words from her, Jaune didn't argue as he walked out of the diner and heard the door close shut behind him.

"Jeez," He couldn't help but feel a little bit of pride knowing that both Mr. McCarron and Ms. Charles thought so highly of him. "I really am thankful for such great people looking out for me."

* * *

Jaune would be lying that working at both a dust shop and a family diner was easy. Each had their level of difficulty since he never really worked back at his home village. He was just another kid more worried about playing games, dreaming to be a Huntsmen, and trying to look cool in front of others.

Truly, Jaune had to shake his head to stop thinking about how ignorant and childish he was back at the village. Living in Vale has given him a new perspective of how he should be living.

"Hmm..." J. Jonah Jameson, editor-in-chief of the Daily Bugle read the incomplete story Jaune handed to him. Sitting across from his boss's desk, Jaune waited patiently as J.J. looked over what Jaune accumulated over talking to team RWBY including some of their friends about their time at Beacon.

"It's decent." The cigar smoking adult tossed the papers haphazardly on his desk. "Not great, but I really didn't expect much from a green horn like yourself."

"Thank you?" Jaune was caught between from feeling hurt of such blunt honesty or content from knowing that his work are not too bad. "This isn't everything, though, and I'm planning to complete it soon."

"Fine." J.J Pulled out a cigar from his desk and started to light it. "Just make sure to remember why you're doing this, Jaune. You're the same age as them, but they're training to be real heroes. Not like that clown brainwashing Vale with his colorful charade. Our work will wake them up from their little fantasy of trusting masked wannabies and put faith into Huntsmen."

"I'll make sure not to forget." Claiming his papers from the desk, the newly promoted reporter left his boss' office.

Closing the door as he left, Betty, who was typing away on her keyboard at her desk saw Jaune and started to talk to him.

"I didn't hear yelling, so I can assume that it went well?" She asked to teen.

"Far better than I had in my head." Jaune walked to her desk and leaned on the edge. "He liked it, in his own asinine way, but he liked it nonetheless."

"Don't worry," She gave him a knowing look. "You're doing fine for someone so young at this line of work. Some of us feels kind of threatened because of that."

"Really?" He gave her a flat look that made her chuckle. "Others more experienced, and even better reporters feel threatened by me?"

"You did just get promoted from photographer to a reporter." She pointed out. "You also landed a solid, newsworthy, and even top tier info regarding the SDC and get into Beacon without much hassle when some of us find it hard to even get a few moments in that academy."

"Don't remind me." The blonde groaned. "Every time I go there, I see them always trying to get to the student's dorms to find… actually, I never really found out who they were looking for, I was just annoyed that they were there."

This time, Betty looked surprised at hearing Jaune say that he doesn't know the reason for why so many appear at the school.

"You don't know? The reason is that there is a famous young student who is a fighting savant studying in Beacon…."

Betty couldn't finish her sentence, when her scroll that was placed on her desk began to ring.

"Hold on, Jaune." Picking up the scroll, the secretary for J.J.J did her usual greeting and listened to whoever was talking on the other call. "Sorry, Jaune, I got to take this, you have a nice day."

"Thanks, Betty." Waving her a short goodbye with a single hand, the blonde reporter left her to her work and made his way to the elevator.

' _Today is pretty slow,'_ Jaune pressed a button to take him to the first floor and soon, the doors closed itself and the elevator started to move downward. _'I settled all of the problems that could affect me. Now, what's next is for me to start planning my next move.'_

* * *

What Vale's web-slinger meant is how he was going to deal with the most glaring issue he has ever since stepping foot in Beacon.

Cinder and her gruesome twosome impersonating as students in Beacon academy.

"Hey, Ruby." The secret hero was talking though his scroll. "I hope I didn't call you at a bad time."

 _"It's ok, Jaune."_ Ruby said to him through the scroll. If Jaune listened a little bit more, he could also hear Yang saying something followed by laughter. _"You're not really interrupting anything. It's the weekend anyway, and my team and I are just about to hang with Pyrrha's team soon to get some food."_

"Ok," Jaune smiled, already seeing his mind working out a way to use this opportunity. "Well, I just called and wanted to know if it's ok if I swing by and just see you guys. I know we see each other through the week, but that's just in the weekdays, so I thought it's ok if I can just hang with you all today."

 _"I don't see a problem, Jaune."_ More muffled sounds that soon turned loud when he heard things being thrown. _"Sorry if you heard some weird noises, I just saw a… um, a fly on my sister's hair and I just had to get rid of it somehow. I need to warn you that Yang and Weiss might be a bit busy, due to them setting up stuff for a dance our school is having."_

"Do I have to ask another time?" While Jaune was talking to Ruby, he was also just walking to the bus stop a block away from the Bugle. Taking a seat on the only bench, Jaune checked the time to see that it was already lunch time.

' _I have all day to plan this out.'_ He assured himself. _'But right now, if I can just get more time around them. Then maybe, just maybe, I can get to know why they want to risk themselves being in Beacon.'_

What Jaune had in mind for today was things that had too much of his time, both being his normal life and his hero life. His small-time jobs of working at a dust shop and waiting tables had to end, they were taking too much time that could help him with being Spider-Man and how both don't really pay much compared to his newly promoted status at the Bugle.

That's why he needed to quit, and in doing so, he gave himself an opportunity to start a plan he had in his head for quite some time now.

' _Jaune Arc is helping team RWBY clear their names, but Spider-Man is using this opportunity to learn more about Cinder and her crew.'_ The vigilante went over in his head on how he must play this out to make sure all of this will go down. _'Just like them, who are impersonating as students from another school, I will use that to my advantage and see if I can get close to them and try to learn more about them.'_

Jaune may have stopped robberies and the like from Roman who is working with her, but what he really wants to know is why this much dust and why go to such lengths as to stay in a school where her enemies live.

All these can be given light, if he can just worm his way into their group. Luckily enough, they seem very close to Ruby and her friend, much to Jaune's dismay.

 _"No! No! It's fine, you can definitely come over."_ Ruby hurrie said, causing Jaune to smile.

"That's great, I'll be there in a couple of hours." He checked the time to see how much he needed to get ready. "I'll be there around 4pm."

 _"Ok, I'll also message Pyrrha and her team and see if they want to join."_

"What about that other team?" He added his questions, throwing that in the conversation to see if she will take the bait.

"I can ask if Emerald and her friends want to hang." She didn't seem confused by the questions and just went along with it.

' _Perfect.'_

Why they decided to be 'friends' with Ruby's group is something that bothered him. Was it because Ruby foiled Roman's men from a dust robbery? Was it because of the rally?

' _None of it makes much sense to me, because 'Spider-Man' was the one who did most of the foiling.'_

Spider-Man did the most damage to their dust thefts, Spider-Man was the one who stopped Cinder's goons from killing some book store owner, and above all, it was Spider-Man who ruined the White Fang's rally.

' _Cinder is at Beacon working undercover, all the while making sure to give out orders to Roman who is working alongside the White Fang. It all adds up, Sandman once worked for Roman, he was working with those two killers, and now I see them here with Cinder leading said team.'_

If they were trying to hide in plain sight, then it was working seeing as how both blended in with Beacon's students. Still, it was a two-way street for them, since Jaune was also using the same tactic as them.

By using his civilian persona as a worker from the Bugle, he can talk to them and keep tabs on while in Beacon. It was a flimsy plan, at best, he can at least hope to keep his eyes on them for the time being.

"Ok, Ruby." The sound of the public bus getting closer told Jaune to get ready to board. "I'll see you soon!"

 _"See you soon, Jaune."_ After saying their goodbyes, both teens hung up at the same time as the bus stopped in front of Jaune. The door hinges were opened by the driver to allow Jaune to enter.

' _Just need to make one more stop before I go to Beacon.'_ Jaune sat in the middle of the bus. _'Need to tell Aunt May about the news regarding how I quit my other jobs. Not to mention, I also need to get some of my stuff so I can at least take some 'notes' just to make appearances. Wait, no, I actually need to take notes since it's still part of my job.'_

* * *

 **[Parker's residence]**

The buildings and people passed by through Jaune's eyes as he stares out from the bus' window. Each face and place he saw soon vanished as the next thing replaced it within his view.

Soon, the bus stopped at his destination making him walk out of the public transit and head just a block back to Mrs. Parker's house. Stepping up the front porch stairs that leads to the entrance, Jaune pulled out the spare keys she gave him, unlocked it, and entered inside.

"Aunt May, I'm home!" He announced. "I talked to Mr. McCarren and Ms. Charles this morning, it went a lot better than I expected. Are you here?"

"Yes, Jaune! I'm in the kitchen!" His landlady spoke.

Heading to where her voice was, Jaune saw her on the house scroll talking to someone.

"Welcome home, Jaune." She greeted him and went back to talking to whoever was on the other side of the call. "Yes, he's here now. Have a nice day yourself! And take care."

Hanging up the call, Aunt May turns to him.

"I'll be making lunch soon, so if you can set up the plates, that would be much appreciated."

"Right." Jaune nodded and started doing at what he was told. It doesn't took long for him to finish. "It's all set, Aunt May."

"Thank you, Jaune. You can go to the living room to relax now. I'll call you when the food is ready."

"Thank you, Aunt May." Just when he was stepping out of the kitchen, Jaune turned around and remembered what he was here to get.

"Aunt May, is it possible I can take some to go? I kind of made some plans."

"Plans?" This made Mrs. Parker look at her tenant in confusion.

"Yeah, I'm going to Beacon to talk to with Blake and her-"

"Oooh!" Aunt May's confusion now morphed into giddiness. "Are you planning to ask her to the Midtown dance?"

' _Right, the dance,'_ Hearing that word made Jaune wince for forgetting that it was just around the corner and closing. _'Shouldn't be surprised if Aunt May would think I was going to ask Blake. She seemed smitten when she visited.'_

"No, Aunt May." The spider hero rolled his eyes. "She's a huntress going to a different school. The dance is only for those who are students, so she won't be allowed. I'm going to visit Beacon to talk with Blake and her friends, you know, since I can focus more about the job I have at the Bugle."

"Right, you did say you needed to quit working at the Dust shop and the diner." She bent under the kitchen counter to get a topper wear from one of the drawers. "I really did like that Blake girl, though."

"You've only met her once, Aunt May."

"Yes, but I can tell she was someone I could like." She pulled out a clean plastic case. "After all, me and Ben met you and we were right to think you were a kind boy."

That stopped his thoughts dead in his tracks. Whenever she mentions Ben, he knew that it was best to shut his trap and let her dwell on the good times he was still around.

"He had always had a good eye for people, and I think he would also extend the same kindness to Blake. You both do have some things in common after all."

"Me and her have things on common?" He shook his head. _'No way, I doubt we have anything really in common. I think the only one I can relate to any of them at Beacon is Ruby, but I don't want to tell Aunt May that. She's already has thoughts about Blake and I, so adding Ruby to this will just make Aunt May more dead set on playing matchmaker with any cute girl I meet.'_

"Appearance wise, yes. But deep down, she holds some secrets that resembles yours."

Thinking about what she meant, Jaune imagined if Blake had the same dilemma he was going through.

' _Did she run away from her family too? To prove something? Well, it seems that she did prove herself, because she made it in while I'm here.'_

Jaune didn't want to sound jealous, he was sure that compared to him, who could barely put a good fight with a sword and shield, Blake had trained far more than he did.

' _Guess we both wanted to go to Beacon, but she wanted it more.'_

"You only met her once and you can already read her like a book?" He sounded skeptical.

"A lady's intuition never dulls, Jaune." She gave him a knowing smirk. "Now, go get ready to leave. I'll have your food ready by the time you're finished."

"Thanks, Aunt May." Jaune headed up the stairs. "You're the best!"

Reaching his room, Jaune looked for what he needed for Beacon, stuffed it in his school backpack, and walked out. Walking down to the first floor, he caught sight of Aunt May holding his lunch including a fork and spoon wrapped in paper towel.

"Here you go, Jaune!" She handed it to him. "Have a safe trip there!"

"I promise." He pecked the side of her cheek. "I'll text you when I arrive there."

"Ok!" Suddenly, she stopped him by calling out his name. "Jaune, I nearly forgot to tell you something. It's about the dance your school is having."

"Aunt May...!" He groaned.

"It's not about Blake this time." The owner of the house slapped his arm. "I was talking to one of my friends who lives nearby about you and how your school is having a dance. She just so happens to tell me that her niece also attends that same school as you and she doesn't have a date to go dancing."

"Uh-huh." Jaune didn't like where this is going.

"Well, since you both go to the same school and how you can't ask Blake out 'cause she isn't a student there..."

"I never said that I would, Aunt May."

"I told her that both of you could go dancing! It would be perfect, Jaune! She showed me a picture of her niece, she told me she also has a nice personality."

"A nice personality, you say?" He smiled, but he could not hide his true feelings due to how his voice didn't sound too convinced.

"Yup," Another thought appeared in her head and she soon walked back to the kitchen to get something. "I think I have a photo of her saved on my scroll let me show you, Jaune."

"Uh, you know what, Aunt May?" Using this opportunity, Jaune slowly opened the front door and started to leave. "I think that sounds nice and all, but I should head out now."

"It will only take a second!" She told him.

That second was all he needed, as Jaune closed the front door and started his trek to Beacon Academy.

* * *

"A great personality?" Harry Osborn repeated the complement Aunt May described this mystery girl. "Brrr, you know that should blare some warning to you, Jaune."

"Trust me, Harry. Asking someone out for the dance is the least thing on my list of priorities today."

"Need I remind you that the dance is literally coming in just a few days. You have yet to even try to talk to any girls from our class, let alone any in the school."

Jaune flinched at how Harry called him out on his hesitance of asking the opposite gender out for the Midtown dance. It wasn't like he was trying to avoid them, he's just really awkward when it comes to things like this.

"I'm busy with the Bugle," Jaune told his friend. "And don't tell me that I'm having a hard time. I don't see you putting in the effort!"

"Jaune," Harry chuckled, laughing at something his best friend wasn't aware of. "I'm simply conserving my energy, scouting the terrain, laying the foundation for my… for my… ok, I've been ignoring this for some time now, but I got to ask why I'm hearing so much wind in the background."

"Oh, I kind of opened a window of the taxi car I'm using to get to Beacon." Jaune lied casually as he swing from building to building using his web.

"Can you close the window?" He asked Jaune.

"Kind of stinks in here, I feel like the driver doesn't really care about how his car smells."

"Sure, I understand why you need some clean air."

Jaune seriously doubted that but kept his mouth shut.

"Back to what I was saying earlier. My plan for getting a date is simple, Jaune. Just wait for tomorrow and see me in action."

"You're not going to tell me now?"

"Telling you will just be a waste right now, plus I can't really stand how much wind is coming through this call."

"Alright, then." The teen hero stopped his web travel and landed on the side of a large billboard that had some scroll number and a location to some law firm. "I'll see you at school tomorrow, Harry. And hey, maybe when you do get that plan of yours in action, can you also try and help me? Cause if I don't, Aunt May might set me up with Ms. Great personality."

"I got you, Jaune. Have fun going to Beacon, and tell Ruby and Blake I said hello."

"Sure." Ending the call, Jaune released his hold on the big law firm sign and plopped down softly onto the rooftop. "I think this should be just enough distance for me to walk."

Unzipping the bag, Jaune pulled out his normal clothes and began to change. _'Can't bring this with me. As much as I want to carry it in case someone needs help, I can't risk the chance having one of Ruby's friends stumbling upon this my accident.'_

Back to his normal street clothes consisting of his usual style of a faded navy-blue pair of jeans, and his favorite sleeveless hoodie with a bunny on the center. Jaune did the next best thing by neatly folding his suit and webbed it on the back side of the advertisement board.

"Ok, I just need to remember where I placed it." He took the time to pay attention to every detail it showed. "Or maybe I'll just take a picture instead."

Taking a photo with his scroll, Jaune saved the photo, grabbed his backpack, and started his walk to Beacon.

* * *

"And here is where we will be holding the dance in." Ruby Rose, leader of three other young women gave a tour to Jaune who was looking at everything like a kid going to a theme park.

"This place is enormous!" The normal teen couldn't help but compare the size of their ballroom to his highschool gym. "You can fit four pep rallies here!"

"Yup, I know this is a lot to take in," Ruby couldn't help but feel a little pride knowing that this was but one of the many areas in the school that was open for use to the students in Beacon. "There was also another room just like this one, and that was for holding all of the first years! It was like one large slumber party!"

"Everyone?" The blonde tilted his head at hearing about what Ruby said. "So... when you said all of the first years sleeping in one large room, do you mean….?"

"Yup, we all had to sleeping bags and everything."

Cheeks turning red, Jaune pulled the collar of his hoodie as if to cool himself off.

"You guys may be the same age as me, but you guys must be really mature enough to have the faculty trust you guys."

"Well, most of us were mature." She started to recall how her first night here was. "It was really awkward for me since Yang wanted me to talk to people. It was also weird when most of the boys were just wearing the pajama bottoms and started to wrestle one another."

"Ugh," The blush on Jaune's face was gone and was replaced with shock. "Was that normal? Did any of the teachers stop any of that?"

"No," She shook her head. "Yang didn't mind though, she seemed happy, actually."

"Get out of my head, get out of my head." Jaune mumbled quiet enough that Ruby couldn't understand what he was saying. As he did both of his hands rubbed the side of his temples like he was getting rid of a brain freeze. _'Will it be weird if I ask Ruby if she liked seeing that? No! Stupid idea! Focus on the task at hand!'_

"You ok, Jaune?" She sounded concerned for her friend.

"I'm fine, Ruby." Jaune said to her. "Just happy to spend time with you and everyone here. With all the crazy stuff I have at school, I just wanted to do something nice for a change. Oh! Before I forget, I want you to know that I'm no longer working at the dust shop and the diner."

"What? Really? Why'd you stop working at Mr. McCarren's shop? You could read all the weapons magazines you want and fiddle around with all the cool equipment!"

' _Of course she would say that. Ruby makes it sound like I quitted the best place to work at.'_ Unable to hold in his laughter he wiped a stray tear from his eye and controlled his breathing. "I know, I just lost the best job ever. That still can't really help with me having two other jobs, one of them being part of the Bugle. With the other two jobs being small in comparison I just thought it was better to let them go now that I have a job more stable."

"Yeah, I see your point on how having three jobs would take its toll."

' _Jaune works so hard, yet I never see him look tired.'_ Ruby never could see Jaune working himself to the bone with how healthy he look.

Either because he found a good schedule to work his time or he was getting used to being overworked. Ruby still felt admiration for someone the same age as her sister to be so mature. _'I'm glad he has more time for himself. Maybe I could ask him if he wants to stay a little bit longer, so I can show other places Beacon has to offer.'_

"I remember Mr. McCarren telling me you have an Aunt you're living with. How is she doing?"

"She's doing good. Trying to push me to get someone to dance with me at my highschool."

"Oh my gosh! I forgot you have your own dance!" The silver eyed huntress bonked the side of her head for being forgetful. "When does yours start again?"

"Same time and day like yours, at the end of the week." A sigh left Jaune's lips. "It's kind of hard to ask someone to the dance with me."

"Yeah, same here. Maybe we can send pictures of each other and how our school dance experience was?"

"You know, that doesn't sound bad. Anyway, I'm blown away at how you guys are getting prepared with the dance."

"Yes, both my sister and my partner are already planning the design and where the entertainment will be set up." Just to reinforce her statement, Ruby's scroll started to sound off. "That should be them, let me go reply to what they sent me."

"Take your time, Ruby. I'm not going anywhere."

"Thank you." As Ruby looks at her messages, Jaune used this time to write down some notes on his notepad.

Currently, it was only just the two of them, with Ruby giving him a quick rundown of places where her and her friends usually hang out at. Like Ruby told him, both her sister and her partner were part of the committee to help set up the dance. He didn't mind, Jaune would make sure not to get in their way if they were too busy.

' _I wonder how their dance will be like.'_ In his mind, the secret hero could see their party being far better then their local highschool dance. Better lights, better food, and probably better everything with how much the headmaster is putting in so much Lien. _'I feel like the students here are just flaunting their status here. Even though Ruby and her friends don't, I still find it hard to believe that this is a school for kids.'_

"Nice to see you, Jaune. Liking where we'll be setting for our school party?"

Turning to where he heard that familiar voice, Jaune saw Yang and Weiss with each holding larges boxes.

"Yeah, this place is real fancy looking." He said honestly. "Way better than any highschool gym."

"Yes, I agree that Beacon hires great architects," Weiss entered the conversation. "But when we're done decorating how the ballroom should look like, the staff will see that they were right to add us to the committee."

"I thought we were voluntold to be part of the committee." Yang side stepped out of the way when Weiss tossed her box at her.

"They were still right to pick us to be part of the dance committee!" She squawked.

Not even showing any effort, Yang used her right arm to hold her box of decorations and used the other arm to catch the thrown object before it could land on the ground.

"Sure, why not." Yang couldn't help but laugh at every opportunity she could get to burst Weiss and her posh attitude. "Delusions aside, it's been kind of boring staying within Beacon grounds cause of the accident still fresh in everyone's mind. I was honestly bored out of my skull that I almost started pulling my own hair until we got slapped with helping some of the students set up all of this glitz and glamor."

"If you guys oversee setting this stuff up, what else are you in charge of?" He asked them.

"We aren't really in charge per se." The other blonde teen explained to Jaune.

"We are in charge of the dance," The heiress clarified. "It's just that someone decided to abuse the school's trust and tried to get some uncouth band to perform here."

"Still felt like they would have been here if the headmaster just forked over a couple more zeros." The close-range fighter of the team pouted. "It would have been even awesomer if Spider-Man met them and they would make a theme song for him!"

"For the last time, Yang. 'Awesomer' is not a word." The white-haired huntress pinched the bridge pf her nose. "And I seriously doubt there will be even a chance Spider-Man would meet the... what were they called again? Achievement people?"

"They're called: 'Achieve Men', Weiss." Yang started to walk to put the boxes next to the other pile that was stationed at a long table with other equipment carried by the students besides them.

Walking back to the group, Yang started to talk. "Your brother seemed to like them. Anyway, you at least need to know that you can't be a hero without your own theme music."

"You're mistaking childish cartoon shows for real life people doing dangerous things while wearing bright colors."

"Hello again!" Pyrrha Nikos and her team of other brightly colored teens strolled inside and greeted Jaune and the rest of her friends. "it's nice to see you, Jaune. Hope you see everything to your likings."

"Hey, Pyrrha, Ren, Nora." Jaune waved at each one of them. "Nice seeing you guys again."

"Sorry if we took to long to get here." The red ponytailed huntress apologized. "We just needed to take a few detours."

"Yup, you can't believe how many people Beacon has!" Nora told Jaune, but her main attention was messing around and opening the boxes that held streamers and confetti.

"Ruby did say you wanted to talk to all of us some more." Ren stepped behind Nora and pulled her away from the mess she was making. "We would be happy to talk some more, though I hope you would also help setting these up as well."

"You mean you three are also part of getting all of this set up?"

"No, they're not, they just wanted to help." Ruby explained to him. "They thought it would go much faster if friends helped with all this. You wanted to be here to see everyone, so I thought it would knock two nevermores with one bullet if everyone pitched in."

"I think you're missing one person, though." Jaune began to count. "I don't see Blake anywhere."

"Ms. GrumpyBlake is just off doing her normal thing," Yang waved it off, yet, Jaune could see some worry in her eyes. "Just her usual complaining about the Fang, Roman, and Spider-Man. I mean, Ruby we can handle with Spider-Man, but Blake seems even more obsessed with the webhead."

"I'm a fan." Ruby clarified. "I like superheroes and comic books! Seriously, is no one else here not think it's cool to like real life superheroes? I mean, Atlas has one now too!"

"You mean, Iron Man?"

"You heard of him too, right? Isn't he just cool!" Ruby was glad Jaune was here, otherwise she would just be the only one who in the group liking heroes. "He's from Atlas and he helps people wearing a cool suit that flies! _Flies!_ I never even thought it was possible, but apparently it is, and Iron Man is proof that more heroes are definitely happening."

' _I do remember Whitley saying how we are just the start of something big.'_

It was nice to hear how well his friend's status at Atlas is now getting some popularity in his kingdom. Jaune may like how his hero person is getting more and more popular. However, he did like how Whitley's alter ego was creating some much needed change in Vale.

"Iron Man." Weiss grumbled under her breath. "Can we please change the subject? I feel like I can't walk ten paces without hearing about supers."

"Come on Weiss," Her partner used her semblance to close the distance between them. Ruby was no right next to Weiss and placed an arm over the girl's shoulder. "He's from Atlas, did some cool village saving, busted up arms dealers, he's practically getting to Spider-Man's level of fame."

"Spider-Man's level?" That seemed to set her off, but not in rage. "I read my kingdom's news, Ruby, about this man. What makes you think he isn't above Spider-Man's status?"

"That's the spirit, Weiss." Ruby's arm wrapped tighter around Weiss. "Stand up to your hero! Kingdom represent!"

That made everyone laugh at Ruby's quirky antics, even making Weiss drop her scowl and replaced it with a small mirth of joy. Still, jokes all aside, Weiss did try to pry Ruby's arm off her, not really getting too comfortable with the close contact.

' _This is nice,'_ Looking at how the atmosphere was full of laughs made Jaune almost forget that he was here for more then just meeting with friends. _'I wish I could tell them what's about to happen next.'_

Passed his friends who were having fun, he could see two familiar faces getting closer and closer to them. Both teens, one girl with dark skin and green hair, the other a boy with grey air and having the opposite skin tone.

"I see we missed out on the jokes." Mercury casually walked into the group, followed by Emerald who smiled sweetly to everyone.

Everyone greeted them like any other friend would, yet Jaune was the last to acknowledge them. Jaune made an excuse about how he should last since he was the one visiting and all. In the bottom of his stomach, Jaune could feel it twist when he sees Emerald standing close to Ruby who was oblivious about how Emerald could easily harm her.

' _Deep breaths,'_ Suddenly, the air left Jaune's body making the report remember to breath. _'Don't jump the gun. They won't try anything with so many witnesses, it would be even suicide if the try to harm the witnesses since all of them are trained to kill monsters.'_

Feeling the dull sensation of his spider sense, Jaune payed attention to where it was telling him to look at and stopped his gaze when Mercury started to walk up to him.

"How've you been, man?" He smirked, holding a hand up. "Sorry if you don't see our team leader with us. She has to talk with our fourth member about when she'll arrive from our school."

That smirk that was on the assassin's face made the secret hero want to wipe it off with a powerful right hook. How Mercury oozed confidence and showed a laid-back attitude may have seemed normal and gave him a look of your usual cool guy.

For Jaune, it was like everyone here were all fools being played by him and Emerald's fake enthusiasm. Acting the part, making friends, feigning emotions, it turned Jaune's hesitation of them into plain hate.

' _I don't see any weapon on him,'_ Jaune saw nothing out of place other then him wearing his usual cloths the first time he met him at Tuskon's book store. _'He has boots that fire actual dust bullets. I can't just up and check, otherwise I would look rude and paranoid.'_

"I've been having a good day so far." Jaune answered, shaking the hand offered to him. _'You and Emerald ruined it though.'_

"I know this is sudden when I ask Ruby if you guys can show up, even though it's the last day of the weekend. I'm sure you guys had plans you wanted to do."

' _Like world domination!'_ Jaune accused in his head.

As much as he can trust his spider sense to tell him danger was close, he could only just sit by and let the two villains be part of the group.

"It's no problem, Jaune." Emerald stepped next to her partner and beamed the brightest smile she could muster. He could bet Lien that if she was at his school, all the boys would be falling for her. They would also be wondering where their wallets had run off to.

"Well, since everyone is here." Not wanting to be the only one doing nothing, the blonde reporter opened a box to show wires and a sound system. "Let's get started."

* * *

' _God, my mouth hurts for doing this.'_ Emerald complained as she kept her smile wide as Jaune peppered her with questions such as how being in a team and staying in Beacon is like. _'I swear, this guy looks as timid as he is pathetic looking. Yet when he gets to talking, I don't know when or how he has to energy to say so much.'_

Blending in to this school was easy for them just as Cinder predicted. A few Lien there, some fake transcripts here, a bit of help from some loyal followers who work in some other Huntsmen school later, and you have yourself an easy access to be a student.

"How long have you been a team?" Jaune asked her, while at the same time helping her place some speakers on top of a long table that will be used for the DJ. "Forget it, that was a stupid question- What I meant to ask is how long have you known each other?"

' _Isn't that the same question only with different words?'_

"I've known them for close to a year." She lied of course. _'I feel like I know this guy from somewhere.'_

"I see," He bought the lie and moved his sight on her partner who was preoccupied untangling some long extension cords. "How is your teamwork with Mercury? I'm sure you guys must train hard to do cool combo attacks. Ruby told me she came up names with her teammates, like 'Freezer burn' and 'Ladybug'."

' _Stupid names for stupid kids, I suppose_.' She mused. "We don't really speak our attacks outloud. Kind of makes it easier for our opponents to read our intentions."

"For the festival, right?"

"Yeah, that's what I meant."

Jaune started to write something down on his notepad, she couldn't see what he was jotting down but she didn't really care. What she really wanted to do was go out and start doing something, yet Cinder benched them after their failure to kill some turncoats and that bank heist.

' _I swear, that spider guy got lucky.'_ She couldn't accept how she failed her boss not once, but twice in such a short amount of time.

That was the main reason why the two underlings stayed in the academy, to cover for Cinder as she makes some contacts with Roman and someone else they don't know about.

' _I should be out there helping, not acting like I'm friends with these losers.'_ She seethed, only to come back to her senses and fix her problems to the person responsible for her losing Cinder's trust in her.

Spider-Man, a guy who's desperate enough to dress up like a fool and claims to be a hero.

' _If he was right in front of me right now, I have no doubt I'll wipe the floor with him.'_

"Emerald, are you listening?"

"I'm sorry," Emerald apologized, focusing back to the nobody in front of her. "Were you saying something?

"I just asked about your chances at winning the festival. I don't really know much, so Ruby filled me in one some of the event you guys will be participating in."

Placing a finger on her lips, Emerald acted like she was thinking hard about her team's chances at winning.

"There's a lot of tough competition this year. I'll be lying if I said that I'm not scared, yet I know we'll come out on top. As a matter of fact, I'm sure everyone will be surprised when they see us win the Vytal Festival."

"Bold words," He laughed. "But I'm positive Ruby and her team will win."

"Agree to disagree?" The green haired huntress didn't want to waste her breath in arguing on something that will never happen. Already Cinder has laid the ground work for her plans to ruin Beacon that by the time they reach the one versus one stage it would already be too late.

"I suppose," Jaune dropped the subject. "Hope to see your fourth member of your team soon."

"You'll see her, just don't expect her to be the talkative type."

* * *

Time began to blend in to the background as everyone helped unpack everything needed for the end of the week. The teachers came by and told them that they were thankful for the extra help even when they had enough students from the committee.

Finishing what they had planned a lot sooner gave Jaune more time to do his usual duty of being a reporter and made some good notes on what he learned today.

Afterwards, Weiss and Yang needed to go to a meeting about further plans, Pyrrha's team headed to the training room, and Emerald and her partner went back to their room. Leaving only Jaune and Ruby all by themselves as the silver eyed huntress walked him back to the front gate.

"Sorry again for Blake's absence." Ruby apologized for her teammate. "She's actually getting better at being more open towards us."

"I believe you, Ruby." Jaune knows that Ruby is trying her best. He just wished that they wouldn't blame themselves. "Blake's just really sore about how Roman is still working along her old organization."

"No, it's something completely different."

"What do you mean? Yang did say that Blake still has some hang ups."

Shaking her head, Ruby's face scrunched up as she recalled something involving Blake.

"Blake vocally tells us about the White Fang, but lately she doesn't seem that interested anymore. I think she's just telling what we want to hear and doing something different."

' _She's lying about learning more about the White Fang? That does sound concerning.'_

"Blake keeps saying that she'll be at the library doing some research and one time when I decided to check on her I saw she was looking up Spider-Man."

"That's good, right? He is popular with everyone in Vale. Maybe she's finally getting a hobby by knowing more about Spider-Man."

"I mean, yeah, who doesn't want to know about Spider-Man?!" That seemed to put her in a better mood. "Which makes it odd that she lies about what she's doing. Is she embarrassed about being a fan? If anything, I'm jealous she got to work alongside him!"

"Don't worry, Ruby." The blonde reporter placed his hand on her shoulder for encouragement. "You'll get your chance I'm sure of it."

"Thanks, Jaune," Walking a head of him she turned around to face him. "Looking at the bright side, I'm still glad that Blake is opening up more. Even if she's lying about what she's doing I'm just glad that she's hiding an innocent hobby."

' _Me too,'_ Jaune was relieved to know that Blake was taking her friends in account now. He was worried he would have to be Spider-man and talk some sense in to her. _'So she's focusing more on Spider-Man now. She did seem more interested in him more often then Roman stealing Dust. Is she also looking into Iron Man too? Doesn't matter, so long as she keeps her head down and let the heat dies down.'_

Walking together in comfortable silence, both students from different schools reached the main exit. Their bodies standing next to each other as they stayed in place as the outside world moved in front of them.

"Hey, Jaune. Can I ask you something?"

"Ask away, Ruby."

"Do you really think people will forgive us for making so much trouble at the highway?" How she asked that made her seem vulnerable and meek. "I keep thinking in my head that this will all be over soon, but I also think that people will still talk about it behind our backs and I makes me wonder if people will see us as screw ups rather than huntresses."

"Have you said anything about this to your team?"

"No, I can't possibly do that." Her hands grabbed parts of her skirt. "I always tell them that with your help we can fix this misunderstanding. We all told each other how we felt about it, so I don't want to keep falling into that rut again."

Thinking long and hard about what to say next, the vigilante could only look back at the large clock tower-like castle and decided to tell her his secret.

"You told me about how your family learned to be Huntsmen here remember?" Her reply was a nod from her head. "And I already told you that half of my family are Huntsmen. What I didn't tell you was that I too wanted to be a Huntsman and even tried my luck at joining Beacon."

"You applied for Beacon?" Her funk immediately disappeared. "But you're not a student here, and that means-"

"They denied my transcripts and I never got to be a student. I never told anyone other than my Aunt and my two friends at Midtown."

"Jaune…" She couldn't comprehend what Jaune was going though. If she was in his shoes, then she honestly wouldn't what to do with herself. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I don't want to see you sad, Ruby." Looking back at her, Jaune made sure to stare right at her piercing set of silver eyes. "Yes, what you guys did might not be forgotten. Yet you're all still here rather than getting expelled, which means the headmaster sees something in you that is worth keeping."

' _Something way more important then a guy with fake transcripts.'_

"It's fine to feel what you feel. You just need to make sure that it won't define you. You're going to be an amazing huntress when you graduate, Ruby. Even when you have people say mean things about you, know that I'll always be the one cheering for you."

"Jaune," Words couldn't describe how she felt at this moment, so the only thing her mind could do was simply wrapping her arms around him. "Thank you."

"No need to thank me," Jaune hugged her back. "Like I said, I'll always be the one to cheer for you."

* * *

Night time rolled in and as usual, Jaune took the backseat and allow Spider-Man to take the wheel. Swinging to buildings varied in size and height to running on the side of walls with ease, Spider-Man performed feats of acrobatic stunts as he watches over Vale and her sleeping citizens, all while having most of his thoughts still thinking about a certain group who shouldn't be in Beacon.

Especially one tidbit he believes to be important.

' _A fourth member of their team.'_ Jaune pondered on who it could be that will fill in the space. _'Cinder left her team and is outside of Beacon. That alone is sending alarms in my head. I can't simply brush off Emerald's remark, there was at least some truth behind what she told me.'_

How he could trust the mint-haired illusionist's words was fairly simple. Looking into their school history, it was deemed that their students will be in a four-man team just like Beacon, meaning that if Cinder really is planning to recruit her fourth member, it would be someone already working for her.

' _She can't possibly get someone this late in the game, meaning she must already have someone in mind to fill in the ranks. It can't be Roman, no amount of make up can make him look like a teenager. Perhaps someone from the Fang? Or maybe Roman's silent partner with the mismatched eyes?'_

Body and spider sense worked in tandem as Spider-Man weaved past tight corners as he instinctively swung from one roof top to the other. As his final swing sent him high in the air his hands let go of the webline, leaving him floating in mid air before gravity sent him curving downward.

By now, he would have already ejected another webstring, only Spider-Man didn't intend to shoot one. His trajectory between his descent and a tall glass window tower in front of him had enough distance to stick onto the building. Not a second after, he latched on and reached the top of the tower in less than a couple of minutes.

Standing on the edge, Spider-Man scanned the streets below him for anything out of the ordinary. His spider sense also did its work to pick up anything that is a threat.

"I can't really think of anyone other than that quiet girl. Neo was her name, I believe Roman call her that? She is a pretty skilled fighter, her semblance is a nasty piece of work, too, and I don't think Cinder would be the picky type."

' _Does this mean I should try and put my sights in Neo? I could take down a potential candidate, making it harder for Cinder to find another one. It's been getting slow these past few nights, but I'm at least not lost objective wise.'_

"Hm?" Moving his head to where he felt his danger sense spiking, Spider-Man fell off his perch and felt gravity pulling him to the ground floor. Halfway down, he aimed his hands upward and shot two web that reached the top of where he once stood. Both arms jerked from the sudden tension from the elastic lines that sprung him high into the sky.

"Where is my spider sense telling me?" Crossing his arms, he twirled his body to do a full 360 degree turn. "There!"

Diving back down, Spider-Man swinged past a couple of apartments, dropped lower on to street level, and eject another short line to make a sharp turn to where he last sensed danger.

"A dark alleyway with no one else in sight." Dropping onto the sidewalk, the wall crawler looked around to if any person was in the vicinity. The entire street had no one in sight, that included cars, and even the sound of the city was a distant echo from where he was standing. "This definitely doesn't feel like a trap."

' _On the off chance that someone is in danger though…'_ Spider-Man wasn't really worried about it being a trap. Not a lot of people can harm him, and he's been knocked down by a lot of things that should have killed him. No, he was mainly worried about if this was a trap, one that would have an innocent bystander be the bait. "You're over thinking it, Spider-Man. Just do what you do best, and everything usually sorts itself out."

Entering the smelly path, his night vision already fixing his sight, Spider-Man kept walking deep and deeper when he finally heard struggling. Being more specific, sounds between a man and a female.

"Ok, trap or nor trap, I don't care anymore!" Alarms setting off inside him, he picked up the pace and found who was making said noise. "You've got to be _kidding_ me!"

"Huh?" A familiar drunken older man turned his head to see who the new arrival was.

Spider-Man sighed deeply. "Of course this would happen."

The hero would have talked about why he was here in the first place. Yet seeing the second person underneath said drunkard mattered more.

The second person, a female, if the grunting coming from her pointed out, was thrashing about underneath the red eyed man who laid on top of her. One arm was folded behind her as the other was outstretched scraping the floor with Qrow's giant butcher of a sword next to her head made the scene in front of Spider-Man even more incriminating.

"Would it be corny to say that this isn't what it loo-"

 **(POW)**

* * *

It was at this moment Qrow Branwen knew, he messed up.

"Gah!"

The force of the punch knocked him off his target's body and caused him to skid across the dirty gutter floor.

"Guh!" Moving his lower jaw, Qrow winced in as every small motion he made him feel pain. "That hurt."

He can't really say he was blind to not notice the signs that should have been easy to spot when chasing this girl. Qrow was just minding his business, doing what he does best… getting brick faced wasted.

Doing a secret mission for Ozpin, getting drunk, saving some maiden from three pawns that work for Salem, getting drunk, trying to track down Spider-Man, getting drunk, going to a bar, and then drinking for the fun of it.

Because at times, Qrow just wants to drink just for the fun of it.

' _Didn't know he could punch that hard.'_ Moving his tongue to make sure he didn't taste copper. The veteran Huntsmen realized another thing that came from Spider-Man strike. _'Did he just smack the buzz right out of me?'_

"You know, I would have preferred if this was a trap, be it from Roman, the White Fang, or some other group of people that doesn't smell like they drowned in a distillery."

Years of training and experience made Qrow evade a downward strike from the webhead. His fist causing the solid concrete floor to crack from his sheer strength. Not liking how close the spider was, he made a half forward roll, landed in a crouching position, and placed his sword between himself and the vigilante.

"Got to say, kind of feel disappointed that you would go straight to the punching without giving me time to explain. Going all white knight is not a good look for you."

"Oh, you are the last person I want to hear that from!" Shooting web strings to capture him, Qrow made a quick swipe from his sword and destroyed the projectiles with ease. "Any normal person would think rationally that seeing a person wielding a freaking weapon holding down someone should immediately get punched in the face!"

"Well, we can see how we both have a different perspective of what 'stranger danger' means."

"There is no difference!" Having enough of his nonsense, Spider-Man shot another set of webs at Qrow. "You're a stranger! And having you free is a danger!"

Getting ready for another attack, Qrow was just about to swing his sword when suddenly both ropes of webbing went right past him.

' _Don't get distracted, focus on the one shooting the webs!'_

Having his sights set on Spider-Man's next move, what came next was exactly the chance Spider-Man to finish his plan.

Both webs connected to the walls that were on both sides of Qrow. Crossing his arms in front of him, Spider-Man used his strength to pull the webs back to him with some of the bricks still connected.

"Oof!" Having the huntsman in front of Spider-Man all the bricks that were connected to the web lines smacked Qrow on the back of his head, causing him to look down.

That was the chance Spider-Man needed to close the gap between them and sent Qrow flying with a high kick that hit Qrow right on the chin.

' _God! Even his kicks feel like getting hit by a car!'_

Fixing his body in midair, Qrow safely landed on his feet, weapon in the ready, while using his free hand to cradle his throbbing chin. "I like to think I'm drunk enough not to feel that," He spat a small glob of crimson in front of him. "And I'll also be lying if that hit didn't hurt like a mother-"

"Do _not_ finish that sentence!" Shooting a barrage of web globs, Spider-Man mixed in his own Dust created webs to see if those will work too. "No matter how many times I hit you silly, you're still standing. Augh! I'm starting to really hate Aura right now!"

Swiping at the normal webs was the easy part as each swing sliced each web ball with ease. But when Spider-Man began to shoot webs that had Dust properties in it caused Qrow to think that turning into his other form might be a better chance for him to gain more distance.

' _This is getting nowhere fast!'_ Taking a chance to look away from Spider-Man, Qrow looked back at where his target was and saw she was getting back on her feet. _'Ugh, me and just my freaking luck!'_

"Can we pause for just a second! That lady stole something from me and need to get it back."

"Sure, I'll make sure to ask her some questions about how you two met as soon as I put you in webs and also behind bars!"

"You're trying to arrest me? What did I do?!"

Finally stopping his attacks, the wall crawler extended his arms out in front of Qrow.

"Remember assaulting that couple a few of nights ago?!"

"They're fine, no one was hurt." Qrow brushed off his accusation. "It was a misunderstanding, honestly, I'm sure you had the same situation when you go crusading at night."

"Like how this moment right now?" Spider-Man made waving motion with both arms. "Is this also a misunderstanding?"

"No, there is no misunderstanding. That chick over there stole someone's bag, I prevented it, gave bag to said person, and realized that my scroll was taken."

"And I'm sure that will be a believable story when I take you and her to the police."

"Oh for the love of-" Finally having enough, Qrow placed his sword back to it's home and charged straight at the hero.

Getting ready for any attack Qrow would make, Spider-Man's vision was soon obscured when out of nowhere feathers started to appear from think air.

' _Wait, why am I shielding my eyes? I'm wearing a mask with protected lenses!'_

Spider-Man looked around his surroundings and found no trace of Qrow. Moving his head to look back at the alleyway, he could see the same feathers scattered at the spot where that girl was last seen.

* * *

"There you go!" Qrow dropped the girl on her back on top of some random rooftop a block away from where he ditched Spider-Man. "Ok, I think you know the drill the first time. Give me back my scroll and I promise not to leave you here on the roof."

"…" No reply came from the girl, her face obscured by her hoodie and hair made it hard for Qrow to see what she was thinking.

He was fine with that, Qrow was a patient man when he needs to be.

"Look, kid." Qrow was only assuming since he can't really see her face and every time, he tried to look at her face she just pushes her hoof further down. "You can't fool me and say that you don't have my scroll. Not an hour ago I saw you rob some poor schmuck's wallet."

Qrow was doing his usual scouting when he spotted the thief running from that man. Be it cause the nameless was someone who owed her money or some other personal business that Qrow didn't want to think about.

Regardless of whatever the cause was, only thing that mattered was that stealing was wrong. As much as Qrow would like to think he was some dashing rouge, he was still responsible enough to be a good role model to his nieces.

"You got props for fooling me. Letting me think that you gave up and handing me the wallet you stole. Too bad for you, I've dealt with enough thieves and scum to know when I got played."

 **(TWIP—TWIP)**

Feeling something sticking to his back, Qrow looked behind him and saw web lines from a familiar hero on the other end.

"Wait here." Qrow used both his hands and pointed his index fingers down before he was violently pulled off his feet. "Hey, Spidey."

A punch to the face was the only greeting he got from the wall crawler.

"Gufuaw!" Landing on his back, the red eyed Huntsman springd back on his feet a second later. "Ugh! Again, with the face!? Do you know how long it'll take me to be drunk enough not to feel the pain? A lot! A very, very absurd amount to get me to not feel this."

"Maybe you shouldn't have did that weird magic trick where you leave all those feathers behind."

' _Dang it, I did a Ruby!'_ Qrow always did tell Ruby to pick up her rose petals in the house. Guess this is just karma biting him in the butt. Probably it was his semblance biting him in the butt cause of how it affects everything around him including himself. "Look, Spider-Man, I can understand why you're angry at me. I too would be mad if someone made me look like a fool. Those punches you gave me should be enough to forgive me, right?"

"Trust me, this will not be enough for me to forgive you or even like you as a person." Spider-Man is usually the upbeat and positive guy that everyone sees. Now, he was like a different person, though to be fair, Spider-Man still holds a grudge about Qrow vomiting all over him.

"You said you have a boss that knows what the heck is happening to my kingdom."

The wall crawler leaped to push Qrow down only to miss when the swordsman sidestepped out of the way.

"Saying that I stumbled upon something bigger than just Roman stealing Dust, that there is some shadow organizatio like one of those conspiracy theories in movies," Spider sense flaring, the Spider hero's legs instantly reacted to the warning by kicking Qrow who tried to strike him from behind. "God, I was an idiot to even think that you were telling the truth!"

"Believe it, kid!" Shaking the kick off, Qrow swiped low to the ground only to swipe air as Spider-Man jumped over the blade. "Roman, White Fang, Sandman, all of them are just distractions! A genius should see that these villains of the week aren't amounting to anything except more people behind bars that the council themselves are considering making new ones. My boss is putting a hand of friendship to you, so you can further help Vale. Help Remnant! That's what heroes do right? So be a hero and help us!"

Performing a downward strike, the webhead was planning to catch the blade with his hands.

' _Gotcha!'_

Changing the angle of the blade to aim at Spider-Man's shoulder, Qrow let his right hand off the handle and made a fist to hit his opponent in the right temple.

' _Sorry in advance, Spider-Man! Hope you have enough aura to handle this!'_

Qrow's fist whizzed past Spider-Man face, missing the marke and touching nothing but air. Spider-Man and his inhumanly fast reaction was able to deflect the blade with the back of his hand and moved his head to not get hit.

"Wah!" That didn't leave Qrow completely out of options however, as his swing missed the mark, Qrow's body shifted from the amount of force he put in that punch making his shoulder collide with the hero. Sending both tumbling on the floor with both opponents getting tangled in each other's limbs.

They both stopped rolling with Qrow being ontop of Spider-Man.

"I never thought it was possible to see Vale this peaceful, Spider-Man. People are actually showing actual kindness to one another thanks to you compared to Huntsmen who risk their lives to defend the kingdoms and villages that barely even thanks them."

"Maybe because they don't want their kids to have role models like you as a hero?" Spider-Man stopped his squirming and fired off his insult to the man.

"Hero or Villain, it doesn't matter if the Grimm overwhelms humanity. You have pull in Vale with how so many are rallying behind you even more so to the likes of politicians! That'll make you an even bigger target when our enemies decide to set their sights on you. If not them, then the council or other more powerful figure who might still be lurking. So can you stop your preaching about being the good guy and just let my boss talk to you?!"

"And that's another thing I like to talk about." Having enough of Qrow's liquor infused breath, Spider-Man lifted his legs above Qrow's head, wrapped it around him, and with his super strength tossed the man a good distance away. "Help would be really nice to have, yet I can't believe your boss or anyone for that matter hire someone like you!"

The webhead aimed his web shooter to restrain him in webs infused with ice Dust when he heard the distinct noise of his cartridges out of web fluid.

' _I ran out already?!'_ Thinking quickly, Spider-Man reached down to replace the cartridges only to feel his belt that held his pouches no longer strapped to his wait.

"Looking for this?" Spider-Man looked at Qrow who was holding his web belt. "Was wondering how you had webs that had Dust properties. Must be some real egghead to make these. My niece will have a field day when I show this to her. But..." Dropping the belt on the ground, Qrow flipped his giant blade to point downward at Spider-Man's belt. "Too bad I'm not here to take souvenirs. Tip for you, Spidey, don't look at the mouth look at the hands."

Stabbing the belt, Qrow thought that without the belt, he could remove Spider-Man's toys from him, leaving the fight a little bit more even. His semblance thought otherwise when Qrow's weapon punctured one of the small canisters. Air invaded the small crevice making the web and Dust to activate and release violently into random directions thanks to Qrow puncturing it.

A blast of air was the first sign for Spider-Man to see that Qrow pierced a wind Dust canister. As webs carried by the small gust tangled everything it touches with Qrow getting most of the webs.

Landing on his back, Qrow's arms and legs were ensnared giving an impression that someone hogtied him. Only that someone was himself and his broken semblance doing most of the work.

Sighing in defeat, the huntsman banged the back of his head on the hard roof top. _'Yup, should've expected this would happen.'_

No longer seeing any reason to fight thanks to Qrow capturing himself. Spider-Man moved his eyes to his next priority regarding who Qrow was dealing with.

"Ma'am, are you hurt?" As he asked as he turned his body to face where he last saw her. What he saw was no one else on the rooftop other then him and a tied up Qrow Branwen. Leaving the hero to speculate that she escaped while both men duked it out. "Crap."

"Great job, hero." Qrow couldn't help it but laugh at this new development. "Now, she's off somewhere with my scroll and is probably going to hack into it or something."

 **(Ring—Ring—Ring)**

"You're kidding me right now?" The sound of his ringtone made the veteran swivel his head to follow the sound of where his scroll was. "When did she...? Ugh, she must have placed it back when I caught her in that alley. Guess she wasn't trying to reach for Harbinger after all. Hey, Spidey, when you're done dropping the ball, can you reach for my pocket?"

The black suited spider didn't really have any obligations to assist Qrow, yet he decided to do just as he asked. Walking to the downed man, Spider-Man reached inside the pocket and pulled out what was inside.

What he retrieved was not the scroll, and was instead Qrow's flask.

"Thought I had that thing attached to my belt? Oh well, do you mind to just open it and waterfall it in my mouth?"

Spider-Man tossed the flask over his shoulder, not even caring to look where he chucked the thing.

"Why you gotta be like that?"

"What? You mean helpful?" Reaching into his other pocket, Spider-Man retrieved the scroll and looked at the caller's I.D. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't drag you to the police? Just one good reas- _RUBY?!_ "

"My niece is calling me?"

"Your _niece_?! Looking at Qrow and then at Ruby's picture on the call. "Uhh..."

' _Should I answer or should I not? If I don't answer the call, will she worry about her uncle? I really should think this though.'_

Not even thinking it through, the wall crawler hit 'answer' and heard the other end of the caller.

' _Aahhhh... shi-'_

"Hi, Uncle Qrow!" Ruby's voice echoed out of the scroll's speaker. "You feeling ok? Are you drunk and laying somewhere? Make sure to at least lay somewhere clean this time!?"

Afraid to reply to her on the off chance she thinks he stole Qrow's scroll. Spider-Man shoved the scroll to Qrow's ear to answer the call.

"Hey, kiddo," The red eyed Huntsman spoke nonchalantly. "I'm fine, I was just talking to a new friend I made. Nice guy, kind of gets punchy when having a couple of shots given to him."

"Well, if he's your friend, then I don't see any problems with that. Oh, speaking about friend, Jaune came by today! I really wished you were here, Jaune was really helpful setting stuff up in the ballroom even though he didn't have too."

"Yeah, you did tell me about him. He sounds like a good guy, sorry if I didn't get to see him today. I want to meet the guy that seemed to catch my little niece's attention." Spider-Man loosened the scroll in his hand but caught it before it landed on the ground. Qrow raised an eyebrow at how strange he was acting. "So yeah, I had to do some things around Vale that had my hands tied. I swear I'll meet him when I get the chance, ok?"

"Alright, I'll talk to you later. Goodnight, Uncle Qrow!"

"Night, Ruby." Lifting the scroll up from Qrow's face, Spider-Man ended the call. "Well, glad that was over. Now, about this we-woah, what do you think you're doing!?"

Qrow squirmed in his binding when he saw Spider-Man lifted Harbinger and swung right at him. Only Spider-Man wasn't going to end his life, rather, he just slashed the webs right off Qrow setting him free.

Not yet finished with his sudden act of kindness, Spider-Man lifted the grown man back on his feet and dusted off any web strands and dirt of Qrow's shoulders.

"I think we started on the wrong foot, sir."

"Sir?" Qrow found it odd why Spider-Man was acting so formal to him.

"My name is Spider-Man," Said spider themed hero stuck his hand out for a handshake. "It's nice to meet you, sir."

* * *

 **This chapter was the longest one I have made in some time and I'm kind of glad that I was able to finish it. This is the start of the dance arc and right now I wanted to start changing the pace of Spider-Man.**

 **The jobs are indeed too much for him and so I decided to cut the middle man and have Jaune see how both the dust shop and serving as a waiter cannot compare to working at the Bugle and getting a better amount of lien from Stane.**

 **This will make him more time working alongside RWBY and other characters in Beacon for both their benefit and his as he keeps a better eye on Cinder and her team. They don't see anything wrong with Jaune, they just see an annoying civilian bothering them as they try to blend into the school. Which is why it will give Jaune a better advantage to keep a close eye on them and even stop them in any future sabotages (I.E- Cinder using the dance as a distraction).**

 **Some of you also voiced how you didn't like the football arc and how it was overplayed both in the main canon of Spider-Man and other stories. I know, it has been overplayed and I do want this story to be kind of like the original. To be honest, I sometimes doubt I can make something original without the help of using the base of Spider-Man. That's why I used it as a base and built from there making it somewhat mostly Jaune.**

 **I also felt like Jaune should have more background as a student, cause in the show we really didn't see much development with all the characters RT used and never spoke about again.**

 **For Qrow and that mystery person he captured. I was kind of making it like a brawl and a comedy between the two since one is kind of a cynical/realistic person compared to Jaune who is naive/hopeful. Don't know if I played it right or if I overplayed it wrong, comment if you think it was just the right amount. It's also true that the person who stole Qrow's scroll set him up to try and take it from him. Why you may ask will be revealed next chapter.**

 **Because right now, Spider-Man/Jaune must try and make peace with someone's Uncle he just fought.**

 **(Spoiler: I dropped an easter egg in this chapter and if you found it make sure to leave a comment!)**

 **Like always, shout out to my Beta and to also check his stories and fav, like, and comment about it. Don't forget to do the same after reading this chapter too. Thank you!**

* * *

 **(Stuck)**

* * *

"Kitty cat!" A small little boy no older than six kept calling out to his pet who was on top of a tree. "Come down."

The feline meowed and continued to stay in place on top of one of the branches. It's tail lazily swing back and forth as the calm winds and warm sun pierced the dense tree leaves and bathed the cat, leaving it sleepy.

"Please, we need to go back inside." The boy continued to urge the cat to come down with little success.

Not seeing the car budge from its spot, the young child was about to call help from his mother.

 _ **(**_ **TWIP** **)**

"Huh?" Hearing a strange sound behind him, the child turned back around and faced a pair of reflective lenses. "Waah!"

"Careful!" Spider-Man, who was hanging upside down using a web line, quickly caught the boy who was about to fall from being caught off guard by his sudden appearance. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you! Usually, I scare guys trying to steal from ATM's and convenience stores."

"M-mo-"

"Before you do that, just let me help get your cat down." Spider-Man put both his hands together in front of his face.

"O-ok," The boy agreed, more so in fear if he did try to call for help. "I tried to get my cat down, but I think she's either stuck or just sleepy."

"I got her don't worry." Climbing the line that's attached to the tree. It took little less then 5 minutes for Spider-Man to coax the cat out of the tree and jumped off the tree to land feet first onto soft dirt. "Here she is! Nice and calm!"

To show he was telling the truth, the cat rose her head, looked at her owner, meowed, and went back to napping in Spider-Man's arms.

"Thanks, mister!" The boy no longer feared the stranger and reached for his cat which Spider-Man happily gave back to.

"Happy to help!" Seeing that his work was done, Spider-Man shot a web line, but looked back at the kid to give him his name. "It's Spider-Man by the way!"

With a pull from his arm, the hero sprung into the air and began his usual good deeds throughout the kingdom.

* * *

 **[Somewhere else]**

"See? Disgusting." Deadpool plucked the cat off the tree and handed it back to the owner.

It was a king gesture from the merc with the mouth, to help an innocent girl get her cat from the tree.

Now, if only said little girl didn't hold two massive pistols that Deadpool handed to her due to how heavy they were.

"Thanks, mister!" The girl started to hear her parents faint voice coming from somewhere. "I hear my parents calling me. Thank you so much!"

"Any time!" The red and black suited merc waved the kid back as she ran to her parents.

"...Crap… she didn't ask me my name..."


	34. Chapter 34

Disclaimer: **Brotherhoof12 does not own RWBY nor Spider-Man.**

* * *

 **(Chapter 34: The dance. Part 2)**

* * *

School was by far the most normal thing that Jaune could always rely on to be the same every day. He would just wake up, eat breakfast with Aunt May, and head to school for a couple of hours. Rinse and repeat for five days and have the weekends to himself.

Jaune liked it the most since there were so many teens compared to village schools, making it easier for him to blend into the crowd and be forgotten.

"Hey, Jaune!" Some student Jaune couldn't put a name on greeted him.

"Hi."

"Morning, dude!" Another student greeted him and raised his hand for a high five from the Jr. student.

"Morning," Not wanting to leave the guy hanging, Jaune slapped his hand and watched the nameless face walk past him. "Dude."

"Heard you're part of the football team." A girl with looks that Jaune knew wouldn't talk to him before he joined the football team smiled. "Good for you!"

"T-thank you." His stuttering made the girl giggle at his nervousness.

"Mr. Arc, I always knew you had a bright future when it comes to education. I'm even more certain knowing that you'll do our school proud now that we have a player who has the brains to back up the brawns." Jaune's 4th period teacher walked next to the boy and congratulated his achievement by showing that some nerds can throw a ball. "Just don't get complacent and stop feeding your brain the needed knowledge."

"Of course, sir." Saying his piece, the teacher walked away from Jaune leaving the 17 year old boy to continue his trek to his destination.

It seems that blending into the crowd was something Jaune will not be able to do no longer, as being part of the football team got him the popularity he never thought he could get and not want.

* * *

"Morning, Jaune!" Harry Osborn, Jaune's best friend and fellow teammate, nod his head as a form of acknowledgment.

"Hey, Harry." Jaune did the same. "Didn't see you at the front this morning. Did you want to get a head start in class or something? Maybe trying to finish your homework you forgot to do this weekend?"

"Nope," Harry pulled the collar of his varsity jacket that had his number sewn onto it. "I actually had to find the person I wanted to ask to the dance with me and guess what? She said yes!"

"Really? That's great, man!" Jaune did not hold any envy or grudge for Harry's accomplishment. He was honestly glad that his best friend got someone to go with. "Can I ask who this lucky lady is?"

"Maybe next time. I will give out a hint and let you know that she is part of the cheerleading squad."

"A cheerleader, huh?" The secret hero doesn't know who said yes to Harry, even less so since he doesn't know most of the cheerleaders. "You know, thinking about finding a date, we never asked if Gwen has one."

"She'll find one, I'm sure of it." Harry's eyes widened. "That reminds me of something! You still haven't gotten a date yet!"

' _Right,'_ Jaune clicked his teeth when Harry reminded him of his dilemma. _'Forgot I told him that.'_

"You were right when you said that the students at school are noticing us now." Jaune pulled the front of his newly acquired letterman jacket with his own number that was over his normal clothing. "I'm just not sure if this will give me a boost of confidence to ask someone to go dance with me. I don't have any interest in any girl in this school for that matter."

"No longer having eyes on the girls here? Then, that means you're only interested in huntresses?" Harry teased. "Don't get me wrong, Jaune. It's ok to be picky, I have my own personal taste in girls, but does Blake or that Ruby girl already pique your interest?!"

"No, no, no, you got it all wrong." The blonde football player blushed when he got called out. "Look, I'm not saying the girls here are not hot, I'm just saying that they just finally started to notice me more cause I'm in the team."

"My plan worked, then!" The rich teen seemed pleased to know that his best friend was also getting the attention. "We join, we pass, and now we're getting popular! Maybe after school I can help with you getting a date? We did talk about it during the weekend."

' _Right,'_ Again, Jaune clicked his teeth for adding another problem to himself. _'Forgot that too.'_

"Sure, I guess after school." The sound of the 5 minutes warning bell sounded off, making a large influx of student entering the classroom.

"Yeah, after school we also have practice!"

" _You_ have practice, Harry," Jaune clarified. "For me, I'm..."

* * *

The sound of the coach's whistle sounded off for all the players that were on the field to huddle up around him.

"Second String! Get off the bench and get over here!" The coach of the Midtown football team shouted. Those who were sitting on the benches got up and huddle alongside their 1st string teammates to listen to what the coach had to say.

One of the 2nd stringers, a certain blonde boy who was wearing a red see though shirt to show the number 7, walked up to his friend Harry wearing number 54.

"Ok, I saw some good effort and great performance today. Keep that up and I'm sure we can keep our trophy for another year!"

Cheers from the players erupted, their desire to keep the school's win streaking going was very evident among each player. Even Jaune couldn't help but feel some form of pride knowing his school kept the longest running win streak compared to other schools in Vale.

' _I don't even play, though.'_ Looking down on his jersey, Jaune couldn't help but sigh at the result of his half-assed plan to put on an average display of sportsmanship. _'In the end, I still made it in. I seriously doubted I could just instantly suck at playing when everyone who saw me would call me out and put more eyes on me.'_

Jaune was accepted in, the coach wanted him to play full time, too. That changed when Jaune told him how he had a job that needed to take precedence, leaving coach to have the boy as more of a backup rather than the main starting line. He would consider it a win since he would not be relied upon as often as the others, making most of the time just sitting on the bench or just playing as the visiting team as practice. Either way, this was now part of Jaune's daily life and he was fine with it.

As the coach finished his final words to the team, Jaune and Harry quickly went to the locker room to change over to their normal clothes. With both boys heading out, the two decided to check out Gwen to see how her days have been going.

"Gwen, you here?" As they arrived, Harry was the first to signal their arrival.

"Hello, you two." Dr. Connors stopped his research and welcomed the two teens. "Gwen is currently helping another lab assistant of mine retrieving some heavy boxes stored in the back. You can pull out a chair and make you two comfortable."

"Are you sure we're not bothering you, Mr. Connors?" Jaune moved his sights at what the doctor was researching. Paper were scattered in a chaotic fashion on the table with scribbles written on the sides of them. A laptop with screens of various creatures with their DNA codes next to them also made Jaune assume that whatever the good doctor was researching on was very important.

"Nonsense, Jaune." Dr. Curtis Connors used his only arm to wave off their worry. "You can't always stick your head in the books all day. I needed to distract myself, anyway. My wife has been very adamant about how I've been staying in the lab more often."

"Well, sir," Seeing as the scientist was ok with them staying, Harry decided to strike up a conversation. "We just wanted to check up on Gwen and tell her how practice was."

"Practice you were a part of, Harry. I'm mostly sitting on the bench not doing much. Heck, some of the other 2nd stringers didn't even show up."

"Eh, practice is practice. Some of them are seniors and I have no doubt in my mind that they are just skipping practice because they only have one year left before they graduate."

' _That… sounds plausible. Jeez, I hope when we become seniors, Harry and I won't start acting like that.'_

"Football, heh." The only adult in the large research building chuckled in nostalgia. "Never had the aptitude for the sport." Connors looked at Jaune. "Gwen told me you are quite the educated student at school. I'm impressed when Gwen told me you made it into football. Glad to see how the nerds can show that they're more than just brains."

"I can't really brag, sir. I just study real hard to get in a good college." The blonde hero was still a bit timid when he gets complemented about his achievement. "I never really played sports in my village before. Playing it now is kind of fun for me, but I'm still somewhat not driven to win like the rest of them."

"Playing for fun is the major factor in anything we set our minds to. Just knowing that you like the sport cause it's fun gives me enough certainty that you'll do well on the team."

As the three males conversed, the sound of doors opening followed by footsteps and a familiar voice speaking to someone that can only be assumed to be Dr. Connors' another assistant.

"Looks like they're back from getting the equipment. Guess that's my que to get my butt back in gear. You boys take care now!" Leaving with a farewell, the one-armed scientist went back to his work.

"Thank you, Mr. Connors." Harry already started to walk off to Gwen leaving only Jaune to say his goodbye. "Good luck with whatever your project is!"

Leaving the man to his work, Jaune walked up to his friends and saw another teen with blonde hair.

"Hey, Jaune!" Gwen called out his name making Harry and the other boy to look his way. "Harry just told us you're still finding someone to go with you to the dance."

"I-I just don't have anyone who I'm comfortable asking, that's all!" Jaune defended himself. _'Besides, even I'm getting desperate enough to take May's offer about Ms. Personality.'_

"Besides, I'm sure I'm not the only one! Do you have someone to going dancing, Gwen?" Jaune shifted the attention to the only girl in the group.

"I think this is my part to introduce myself." The other blonde fellow stepped forward and stopped right in front of Jaune.

' _Holy smokes, this guy is jacked!'_

The boy was the same height as Jaune, but that would be the only similarity between the two. Jaune was somewhat of medium muscular build, while the teen in front of him has the same muscular build, if not even more muscular than Flash Thompson. He had his blonde hair sleeked back, blue eyes, and was sporting light blue jeans, plain white t-shirt, and a black jacket.

"My name is Eddie Brock." The now named blonde offered his hand towards Jaune.

"Jaune Arc." Jaune raised his hand to shake Brock's.

"Nice to finally meet you."

"Good to meet you."

* * *

Like always, as the sun sets and the night invades the lands of Vale. Jaune takes a back seat, letting Spider-Man full reign as he swings from building to building. Overseeing the citizens of Vale as they go home to sleep or go to work at night.

Truly, this was the part where Spider-Man could just enjoy his time riding on the wind as he sails through the night.

 _ **(CAW)**_

"Woah!" Mind getting back on track, Spider-Man made a stop on the side of an apartment condo. His ability to stick to any surface saved him from falling as he collected himself from the sudden disturbance of his piece.

"Ok, I have to know." Spider-Man talked to no one in sight. "Exactly why are we going to this location and why are you in that form?"

At first glance, Spider-Man looked as if he was going crazy. Only, there was someone he was talking to, a crow, to be exact. The avian was perched on the head of the hero, it's talons effortlessly clinging on as it withstood the wild ride.

The bird squawked, slapped Spider-Man's head with its wings, and pointed his beak at a direction for the hero to follow.

"I know where to go. But since you're a bird, why aren't you flying?"

Spider-Man only received another slap from the bird's wings.

"Fine," Spider-Man continued his usual web swinging. "Can you at least stop being a bird already? It feels weird talking to you like this."

A moment of silence was all Spider-Man got from the bird. Until suddenly, the webhead felt new weight on his back making the hero to lose his momentum before quickly fixing himself.

"Easy!" Qrow Branwen struggled to hold on to the hero. Settling to just wrap his arms around the so-called hero's neck. "I may be used to flying, but I'm not used to being airborne while being myself!"

"I got it! Stop fidgeting behind me!"

It sometimes baffles Spider-Man how this came to be. Not so long ago, both men duked it out and now here they are seemingly working together.

' _It's not really confusing. Afterall, I don't want Ruby to hate Spider-Man/me if she found out that I fought with her uncle.'_

"Now that you're human again. Can you tell me why we're going the long way, Qrow?"

' _I wonder if that's his semblance.'_ The young hero thought.

"Huh?" Qrow didn't pay attention, on the account that he was drinking from his hip flask. "Sorry, I was busy drinking."

"How can you drink at a time like this?!"

"What? I ain't driving."

"I'm not a car!"

"And I'm not flying. Meaning I can drink while having a free ride." Qrow was about to down a swig when Spider-Man let go of his web and ejected another one. "Ugh! Then again, all this web slinging is getting my stomach all messed up."

"Oh, I swear! If you think about vomiting on me a second time..." Spider-Man warned Qrow. "Not only will I punch you, I'll also have you make me a new suit!"

"Ok, ok, chill out." The Huntsman waved off Spider-Man's warning. "We're already here, so you can land somewhere close."

Doing as he was told, both men stopped at a random rooftop just three building down from where their target was.

"Ok," Looking around, Spider-Man set his eyes on Qrow. "I'm here and cooperating. What now?"

"What happens next is really simple." The swordsman placed his flask back in its hip pouch. "After our little scuffle, I contacted my boss-"

"Your boss that still hasn't shown himself to me." Spider-Man pointed out. "You said he wanted to help me and vice versa, but I have yet to even see him, let alone talk to the man."

"Kind of rushing things, Webster."

' _Webster!?'_ Spider-Man did not like the new nickname Qrow gave him.

"My boss is currently entertaining someone within our group that is not very fond of vigilantes. Not going to name who, but his name should be familiar to all males who are greeted by something in the morning."

"Breakfast?" The hero guessed, his head tilted.

"…So, yeah, my boss can't really talk to you at this moment-"

"Hey, don't ignore me!"

"However, he is going to help you get on track with what's been going on in Vale recently."

That gave Spider-Man all the attention Qrow needed to further explain Ozpin's reason.

"As of recently, you've been stopping goons working for Roman every so often from stealing Dust. While it is correct that you're stopping them, Roman still has enough manpower to keep trying. You at least have a thought or two on where he gets them though, Right?"

"Y-yeah, I have my suspicions." The White Fang came to mind, as well as Cinder and her assassins too.

"Well, look no further!" Qrow lifted his right index finger in front of him. "Cause where Roman gets most of those sorry losers is right here at that establishment! The owner is a man everyone calls 'Junior'. You really can't miss him on the account that people always say he's taller than the people he hires."

"That place?" Spider-Man followed where Qrow was pointing at.

"Yup!" Qrow sounded way too pleased in Spider-Man's opinion.

' _Guess it can't be helped.'_ Walking to the edge, Spider-Man was about to shoot a web line when he felt Qrow's familiar weight pressed against his back. "I feel like I prefer you to be a bird."

"Can't do that, Webster. Got to pregame before we... actually, more like myself will go and you can hang back somewhere close and I'll send a signal for you to enter."

"Why are you pregaming?" Landing just a building next to the location, Qrow got off Spider-Man's back, nodded his head as thanks, and jumped off the roof.

Landing without making any ruckus, Qrow Branwen started to lazily waltzed to where Spider-Man can only assume to be his most favorite place right now. _'He didn't even answer my question.'_

"Of course, he would be happy." Seeing as he was on hold, the spider hero sat on the edge of the building and waited for Qrow's 'signal'. "I shouldn't even be surprised he would be happy that it's a club that sells drinks."

* * *

All jokes and quirks aside, Qrow Branwen knew when to take things seriously. When he fought off those vultures to save the Fall Maiden was a good example to be serious, working alongside Spider-Man in hopes to gain another helpful hand was another example, too.

"And that's..." Qrow placed a hand over his chest and belched. "...Is why I believe that dating someone who is way younger than you is a waste of time perusing and also weird when they look completely different then their age makes them out to be."

"Sir," The bartender serving him, a man wearing the usual bartender clothing with the only exception being bright red shades. "I don't understand what you're saying."

"Trust me, man. Most girls you see look like they're old and mature, but don't be fooled when you realize their true age!" Qrow seemed to be droning on. "I mean, yeah, some would think you and her would be a great pair, but when you compare their ages, then you have to take a step back and see how that's a glaring issue. Don't get me wrong, a couple of years shouldn't deter you from love, but when you're the same age as her father, then you realize it's more like it's her weird complex at work rather than love."

Taking one big swig from the bottle handed to him, Qrow let out a satisfying breath of air. "This is some nice stuff you gave me! Glad I decided to buy the bottle and not in shots."

"The alcohol you're jugging like water was made for shot consumption. You just bought the bottle cause you were tired of asking shot after shot."

"And I'll buy another bottle!" To show he was serious, Qrow slammed down a couple of Lien to the bartender. "Don't worry about counting it, I'm sure it'll be enough. So, why don't you go get some of the good stuff?"

' _Plus, I'm pretty sure I just handed you all of my money.'_

Grabbing the Lien, the bartender started to search for the strong stuff, leaving Qrow to begin his intended plan.

This establishment was a very well-liked and popular club. While it did show its ugly side out front, it clearly was a way to show appearances can be deceiving. A big dance floor, strobe lights, large DJ station and even different sections for different types of people screamed of a successful business.

' _Successful business it may be.'_ Qrow wasn't a fool when he entered this club. He was a trained Huntsman; it would be a sorry thing if he didn't notice some of the men had way too much firepower for waiters and bouncers. _'Not to mention, if I did my homework correctly, the owner of this place is also the one supplying Roman with henchmen.'_

' _Ozpin wanted to give Spider-Man more faith into believing we're the good guys. If it all goes well, then I'm sure Spider-Man can see we're on the same side.'_

Though Ozpin was sure having Spider-Man join was a good idea. There was someone within their ranks that working with the vigilante is a bad idea.

' _Jimmy is a lot of things, but this time I actually somewhat agree with the man. Maybe…. A little…. meh, not so much, but just a little.'_

Qrow didn't hate Spider-man per se, he was just more of a realist. Being in Vale, seeing people going gaga over Spider-Man just made Qrow not really take Spider-Guy seriously. Sure, he saw some really amazing things, but if Spider-Man really does join, then all the attention he already has could be a hinderance.

' _Still, if Ozpin has a plan, then I'm sure it's a good one.'_ Taking one more gulp of the liquor. Qrow shivered as the liquid to went down his throat leaving a very warm aftertaste. _'Feats aside, I can tell he's just an amateur street fighter. Yet, seeing how he can do such masterful acrobatics and reactions speed makes my theory of him contradict itself. Maybe that's why Ozpin is so interested in him.'_

 _'Hmm...?'_ In the corner of his eye, he could see the man in charge walking alongside someone. The man in charge was Junior Xiang, as for the man he was talking to the only noticeable was a pair of antlers growing out of his head.

' _A Faunus,'_ Having an eye for detail, Qrow could see that the man was far from a regular joe. His posture, awareness, and even his physique screamed that he had training. _'Is it racist of me to think he's part of the White Fang? Roman is working with them, and I'm positive both are working for the queen.'_

"Time to get to work." Getting up from the stool, his vision soon tilted making Qrow lean on the bar table. _'Oh geez, I feel like my legs are about to give out!'_

Wobbly legs, muffled hearing, vision moving around, and his mind barely remembering the alphabet made Qrow think one thing.

' _I'm perfect!'_

Any person can act drunk, but when dealing with Huntsmen, one must make it was as real as possible.

And no one can make being drunk a perfect tool than Qrow Branwen.

Wobbling, Qrow made sure to not make it obvious he was following them as he haphazardly shoved everyone around him.

"Whoa!" Legs giving out under him, Qrow collapsed on the ground along with the antler guy talking to Jr. "Did I make it to the bathroom?"

"What the-gah! Your breath! Get off me!" Qrow was forcibly shoved off and laid face down on the club floor. "Filthy, no good Human…" The Faunus reigned in his anger before collecting himself. "We'll talk again soon."

"Enjoy your night." Jr waved the man off and as soon as he saw the faunus gone, his relaxed mood turned to dead serious. "Someone take this drunk out of here!"

Two of his minions picked Qrow off the floor and escorted him outside, so that he will no longer cause a disturbance.

'That's right,' Qrow moved his head to act as though he was confused. As they headed for the exit, the red eyed Huntsman tucked away a scroll he snatched from that Faunus he bumped to the floor. _'Jr was the man I needed questions, but if my hunch is correct then what I took from that Faunus could lead to more dirt to the Fang. If they take to the back and toss me out, then I can just transform into a bird to see if I can find another way to enter.'_

Everything was going smoothly. All Qrow needed was them to take him outside and he can start really getting into the job Ozpin gave him.

"Hey, you two! Stop!" The bartender who was busy getting a strong drink for Qrow stopped them from leaving the club.

' _Why do I even try to get my hopes up?'_ Qrow groaned internally.

"That guy you're holding ordered a drink." To show what he meant, the bartender was holding the bottle with strong alcohol.

"Look at this man." One of the bouncers lifted Qrow's head. "You think he's still sober enough to drink?"

"Then just place it next to him when you dump him out."

' _Yes!'_ It seemed Qrow's bad luck wasn't all bad seeing as the two bouncers took the bottle form the bartender and continued their walk. _'Just keep moving and I'll be scot free!'_

Resuming the walk, the two nameless cronies were stopped once again, only this time, it was their boss, Junior.

"Stop." Just one word from the owner of the club made them immediately walk any action. "Take him upstairs. Something about him seems familiar to me."

' _Why can't things be easy?'_ It was foolish of Qrow to think Junior wasn't also in the Queen's control. Perhaps Roman, most likely, was the one who gave Junior orders to be very cautious of anyone that the Queen had considered a hinderance to her goals.

"Set him up with one of the rooms for questioning when he sober ups." Junior ordered. Only to his dismay to see that Qrow started to double over, knocking over the guard that was holding on to the unopened bottle. "Gods! Get him on his feet!"

Following order, the other thug pulled Qrow off his fellow co-worker and was welcomed to the smell of alcohol. Not just the smell, but he also felt something wet spreading onto the bottom of his black suit to his black dress pants.

"Wha-Oof!" Before he could register what was happening, Qrow surprised the man by pushing him with enough force to land on his back.

"I like to say a joke about smoking." Qrow stood up straight and lifted a zippo lighter he took from the man he just shoved. "But what happens next will have to do."

Tossing the lighter to the two men, the liquid he poured on both thugs soon ignited leaving them screaming as the fire burned their suits and their skin. Their bad luck didn't stop there, as the two screamed and in were in so much pain that they started to run and wail around the club for any water or help.

This sewn hysteria and panic among the patrons. The amount of screaming and people pushing and shoving to leave made it hard for Junior and his hired guns to spot Qrow.

' _This is probably a good thing.'_ Qrow was shuffling on his stomach to lower his chances of being spotted. _'Junior won't order his men to just start shooting innocent people. I'll just use this to my advantage and shimmy my way up to this second floor and see what they're hiding.'_

As he made his way under the cover of all the chaos, Qrow was stopped when two pairs of legs stood in his path. Now, Qrow was many things, including a skirt chaser, however the sight of heels that had sharp blades were kind of a turn off for him.

"Where do you think you're going?" Looking up, he was greeted by the sight of twins glaring down on him.

"Uhh… I can see up both your skirts?"

What soon followed was more screaming and explosions.

* * *

"My guess this is Qrow's so called 'signal'." Spider-Man saw the club was blaring loud music and laughter soon went down the gutter when he heard screaming, gunfire, and explosions within the establishment.

"That's a lot of gunfire for a club to have." Spider-Man thought outloud. His body already beginning to move on its own towards the violence. "As much as I would like to beat the ever-loving stuffing out of criminals who are caught in the act. I would have still liked it more if there weren't any bystanders so close to the fight."

Landing on the side of the large night club, Spider-Man used his adhesive power to crawl vertically. Finding a ventilation grate big enough for him to enter, Spider-Man ripped it off the hinges and proceeded to crawl through.

Navigating through each turn he finally reached the end of another ventilation grate that lead to where to commotion was. Peering through, Spider-Man can see that the only people left in the club were armed guards and Qrow who was dodging both gunfire and bladed swipes coming from two girls who looked to be twins.

"Worst signal ever." Spider-Man muttered to himself. Scanning the area, he spotted many goons wielding guns that could spell a mean end if caught in the crossfire. _'I'm confident I can dodge their gunfire. Not so much if Qrow can do the same. Aura may be helping him, but I doubt he can hold out forever.'_

"Got to find the power to cut the lights." Changing his priority. He started to look for anything that could turn the entire clubs lighting system down. "This looks important."

Spider-Man reached a room that had a large control room with every button, switch, and levers that screamed for the webhead to mess with. Punching the grate vent out of place, Spider-Man softly landed onto the floor and began to fiddle around with the buttons.

Getting the right switch his vision soon turned black before his vision adjusted to the darkness making him see again. Spider-Man also heard many loud voices in distress giving Spider-Man the advantage he needed.

"Time to go to work."

Not even wasting his time to use the vents, Spider-Man used his natural speed, agility, strength, and the element of surprise to take down every single armed thug in his sights.

"Ugh!"

"Oof!"

"Who's taking down our boys!?"

"It's Spider-Man! Shoot him!"

They all weren't human, as some were able to see in the dark firing their guns at the hero regardless if some of their human coworkers get shot.

"No honor among thieves?" Spider-Man asked the shooters, weaving among the hail of bullets without getting a single scratch.

Not even paying attention to how much they were spitting lead. Some began to hear their guns clicking to show they need to reload.

A second passed by and Spider-Man pushed his speed a little faster taking down more guards before they could even remove their empty magazines.

' _Apprehending these guys should give Qrow more breathing room to handle those two twins. Though, I wonder if even Huntsman can fight in the dark?'_

Punching the lights out of what seems to be the last guard to the ground. The hero webbed the man down and changed his focus to help Qrow. Sweeping the darkened room, the hero's eyes stopped at the large dance floor that soon lighted up. Colors of red, white, blue, and yellow started to illuminate the club with Qrow fighting the twins in the center.

"Whoa!" Seeing Huntsmen fighting amongst each other was always a sight to see. Their attacks, reflexes, and even their use in weapons with their battle ground being a literal light show of a dance floor was quite amazing. "Huh?"

Standing close to the entrance, Spider-Man spotted someone who he can only assume as being Junior carrying a bazooka aimed at the center where the fighting was taking place.

 _ **(Twip—Twip)**_

Two web lines stuck to the man's right side that soon pulled him to face the right making Junior fire off course.

 _ **(BOOM)**_

"Nice to meet you, Junior. If you wanted someone to dance with you," Spider-Man lowered himself to the floor in his usual fighting stance. "Then you're in luck. I've having a hard time finding someone to dance with."

Shifting his bazooka into a giant baseball bat, the owner of the club started to swing his now turned melee weapon with Spider-Man evading every swing.

"You know-" Spider-Man ducked.

"I feel like-" He side stepped to the right to avoid an overhead strike.

"I know this place-" Spidey jumped over Junior, landed on his hands, and kicked the back of Junior off his feet and land on his face. "But more on how my friends told me this place was known for getting wrecked by a girl who is still in school."

Their fight soon left the entrance of the club and was near the colorful dance floor where Qrow was fighting his enemies.

Qrow was able to fend off the two girl's coordinated attacks with his strong defense. Spider-Man dodging Junior's strike while also making sure to stay close in order for him to be unable to change his bat to a bazooka. Both sides seemed to hold their own, with none showing any signs of changing.

"Grrr!" Not even wasting his time talking to the spider, Junior made a loud whistle signaling hie two personal bodyguards for help. "Melanie! Miltia! Switch!"

Disengaging their fight with Qrow, the Malachite twins ran to Junior's opponent with Junior doing the same by fighting Qrow.

"Seems like you two will be more to handle for my taste!" Evading a right-side slash from the girl wearing a red dress, Spider-Man attempted to hit her only to jump back when the girl wearing white kicked her bladed heel out to stop him.

Both girls were far more in sync then Spider-Man thought they were. The girl in red with the claws made sure to keep his sights set on her, while her sister used any opportunity to find an opening to strike and cover Miltia when she tried to land a hit.

"Is it harsh of me to think that Junior, the man who swings a giant metal bat like it was nothing, call for you two to help him fight me embarrassing?!" Spider-Man goaded them hoping to make them lose their cool.

"This one talks a lot, Melanie." Miltia said to her twin sister. "Reminds me some of the guys who try to play us."

"Then we'll just show him why it's best not to mess with us, Miltia!" Switching the tempo to have Melanie fight Spider-Man, Miltia began to circle around the two to see if she can get a better chance of hitting him.

"By the way, I like to thank you two!" He said as he blocked a kick from Melanie.

"For what?" She asked, her eyes sending a silent signal for Miltia to get ready for her next attack at Spider-Man.

"For this dance of course!" He joked. "I sure am a lucky guy to have you two as dance partners."

Finally having enough of this useless banter, Melanie made a feint as to make Spider-Man off guard as she made a low sweep kick to his legs.

Spider sense taking control of his body, Spider-Man made a small jump to dodge the damage making him air borne. This was the plan the twins had however, as Miltia plunged both her clawed gloves at Spider-Man still in the air.

Not yet done, the spider hero's body moved vertically to evade the attack from Miltia and landed in a crouch. As the twins made another try at attacking him, Spider-Man crossed his arms, shot two webs at their feet, and pulled his arms back to his sides. Leaving them to trip in each other's legs knocking them on the floor in a heap of limbs. Leaving them vulnerable for Spider-Man to shoot another two web lines at them and pulling them towards him as he also raised his leg high above his head.

The Malachite twins were then slammed hard on the dance floor from Spider-Man's downward kick with the added insurance of layered web nets to stop them from escaping.

"The whole: 'boys don't hit girls' is kind of moot these days, don't you think?"

' _Now, I wonder how Qrow is doing with his dance partner?'_

* * *

"That's it," Junior sighed in defeat. His bout with Qrow was decided when his weapon somehow malfunctioned when shifting to his long-range mode giving Qrow the chance to disarm him. "Next time, I'll add metal detectors to the front door."

"Wise choice, friend." Qrow said as he reached for his hip flask with his free hand. Right now, Qrow had his target at sword point, so a quick swig from his flask was his way of giving him a well-earned prize for ending the fight. "You cannot believe how easy it was to get in with this baby strapped to my waist. Not my flask mind you, I'm talking about my sword. Seriously, it's a big sword and yet your guys barely gave me a second glance. Starting to see how my niece was able to make quick work of this place."

Junior wanted to make a retort, but kept his mouth shut knowing how true Qrow's words are.

"Hey, Qrow!" Spider-Man made his way to the destroyed center stage. "Tied up mine, so they won't be going anywhere. Need me to do the same for him?"

"By all means."

Wrapping the owner of the club in a cocoon, both trespassers began their questioning.

"Roman is your usual guy to ask for muscle. You can't hide it from us, if we go through your office, I'm sure we'll get enough damning evidence to shut you down."

"Are you seriously going to think the police will believe I work for Roman?" Junior sounded doubtful. "I own this place with legitimate paperwork and license, if they ask me questions all I'm going to say is that you and Spider-Man wrecked my club!"

"Sorry, Junior, Beacon won't be paying for any damages caused by the usual drunk student or Huntsman this night."

"Yeah! Wait, hold up this is a common occurrence here?" Spider-Man's questions was ignored by Qrow and Junior.

"Not with this," Qrow pulled out a scroll out of his pocket. "Belonging to your friend you talked to earlier. If this scroll has any evidence of you helping the White Fang, then you can bet your 'legitimate' business goodbye."

"Fine," The tied-up gangster knew when he'd been had. "It's true, I have been in contact with Roman. He's been calling way more often now. Wanting me to give him more bodies to pull heists."

Junior Glared at Spider-Man, who pointed a finger at himself with confusion.

"I didn't want to help him thanks to Spider-Man putting so many of my boys behind bars. I actually wanted to stay low for a while to regain my numbers back, until Roman came back with another business partner also asking for my assistance."

"The White Fang." Qrow said which Junior nodded.

"They didn't want more muscle like Roman. Just storage space to hold their operations and dust that they've been accumulating."

"Why steal so much Dust?" Spider-Man asked Junior who shook his head.

"Don't know, and I don't ask. They supply the money and I supply the tools. I'm more of a supplier and informant than an actual friend to them. I help people get the things they need and what they want to know for a price. That's it, what they do with said info and tools is not my problem."

' _Not my problem...'_

A flash of a memory came back to Spider-Man, making the hero start to relive a moment he wished to not remember.

"Not your problem? Nor your problem?! That doesn't mean you're completely out of this mess!" The webhead spoke with a bit more edge in his voice. "You help criminals and terrorists to steal and kill people. Take their blood money and look away from their actions and you say it's not your problem?! The way I see it, you're more guilty of the crimes than they are!"

"Spider-Man!" Without even realizing it, Spider-Man felt a strong grip on his shoulder. "I think you made your point."

Blinking away the anger that was invading his vision he could now see that he was holding Junior up by the collar. The man tied up looking between surprise and even fear for seeing the hero show this much anger.

"Right." Spider-Man whispered with a harsh voice. Lowering the thug back on the ground. "You don't deserve to get a fair trial. Not with so much problems you caused Vale and her people. And if there is a chance you get out with 'good behavior' and bring this place up again, know that I'll make a visit every so often."

His warning now made, Spider-Man shot a web line to the ceiling of the wrecked club, attached it to the back of Junior, and had the grown man dangling like a tether ball.

"We've stayed too long. By now the police will show up and take them away. Beside this scroll you pickpocketed, the police will also take everyone here for questioning seeing how they have so much weapons that I'm sure most are unregistered and maybe illegal at best. Right, Qrow?"

"Definitely!" Qrow said, his face looked serious while the rest of his body betrayed him. What was in his arms were assorted bottles ranging from wine to even whiskey, Spider-Man could even see his pockets having what appears to be even smaller bottles of alcohol. "I'm sure the police can handle things from here! Let's go!"

* * *

"Ahh~!" Downing the last mini bottle, Qrow tossed it into his small pile of finished drinks and was prepared to reach for a bigger bottle.

"Stop that." A black glove swatted Qrow's hand away from getting another drink. "You made me carry you because you didn't want to lose any of those you stole from the club. Now you want to drink all of it in one sitting? Is your semblance being a bird or having an indestructible liver?"

' _Oh yeah, Spidey thinks me changing into a bird is my semblance.'_

Looking at the kill joy, Qrow could see Spider-Man holding a large pizza box that still showed the signs of being recently cooked.

"Guy looked confused about where he was supposed to drop it off." Sitting on the edge next to Qrow, Spider-Man flipped the box open to reveal a large pepperoni pizza. "Got it right before he tried to take a slice. Thanked him and also asked him if his name was Jeremy. Don't ask why, I just needed to know is all. Want some?"

Not wanting to pass up on free food, Qrow accepted the slice and sat along the spider in silence as they enjoyed the night life.

"Do you always get pizza after a night like this?" The black-haired swordsman finished his last slice of pizza.

"I got to eat something after that fight we had. I'm just happy that there are some places open 24/7." Spidey, with his fast metabolism, finished the remainder of the pizza. "Whenever I do my night patrols, I sometimes get hungry and had to order food. I'm actually eating more now that I burned some calories from all that fighting."

"You ever got scared that all that food might stretch your tights a little bit?" Qrow teased.

"Nope." Pounding his chest, Spider-Man let out a burp that had the scent pepperoni.

Sitting in silence once more, both stared straight ahead as cars, people, and even the occasional animal passed their field of view.

' _This is awkward.'_ Spider-Man thought. _'We just fought a literal legion of henchmen and I have nothing to talk about. Should I ask him how his day was? Should I ask him how Ruby, his niece, is doing at Beacon? What am supposed to ask a guy who I just fought not too long ago?'_

Right next to Spider-Man, the drunkard had the same idea.

' _This is awkward.'_ Qrow thought. _'I'm not even sure drinking would make this less awkward. Am I supposed to ask him how his day was? Ask about his hobbies and questionable outfits? Should I even ask how he cleans his costume?"_

As they sat in anguish about how they both can't find anything else to talk about, Qrow's scroll began to ring breaking the silence.

"Hello?" Qrow answered. "Cops arrested Junior and his cronies! Did they have enough evidence to put behind bars? Uh-huh, uh-huh, yeah…"

As Qrow was talking to what Spider-Man was assuming was his boss. He couldn't help feeling prideful knowing that he put someone who did terrible crimes be put to jail.

"Ok, I'll tell him."

No longer on the scroll, Spider-Man focused back to Qrow who ended the call.

"Tell me what?"

"Aside from junior and his gang getting their just desserts with holding illegal arms, files of some wanted criminals, as well as also giving drinks to patrons who are underage. We won't be seeing him for quite some time, even if he somehow gets a lawyer to defend him." Qrow pulled out the scroll he stole from the Faunus who talked to Junior. "He'll find it much more difficult to get probation when the council catches wind about him helping a certain terrorist group."

"Awesome!" The webhead jumped in joy. "That's great! So, are we handing it over now or…?"

"I'm going to hand it in," Qrow put the stolen scroll back in his pocket. "Before you fly off the handle, Webster."

"Still don't like the nickname."

"I want to remind you that we're on the same side. We helped you get Junior in jail, remember? Have some faith in us, alright?"

"You're right," Spider-Man sighed. "It's the least I could do. About Junior, did your group find any lead about Roman's location or maybe the real mastermind?"

"Just locations. Plural." Seeing Spider-Man get confused, Qrow explained further. "Junior worked with Roman for so long, he seemed to have accumulated enough knowledge to pin point some of Roman's safe houses."

"Meaning he could be in one of them!" Finally understanding the importance of the news, Spider-Man shot a web line and looked back at Qrow. "Well, what are we waiting for?! Tell me where the closest safe house is."

"Slow your scroll, Spider-Man. Do you know what time it is?"

"Um, midnight?"

"More like four in the morning."

"Pffft!" Caught off guard at how long he's been out, Spider-Man reached into his suit's pouches to see if it's the truth. "We've been out that long!?"

' _How the heck did I not notice!? I got to get back and get ready for school!'_

"I thought you said you did night patrols?"

"I-I do, it's just that I was surprised that time flew by so fast." Shooting another web line, Spider-Man was just about to leave only to stop to look back at Qrow. "Where do we meet tomorrow?"

"We can meet up at the bar. You know, the first place we met." Qrow was just about to leave for his home, only to smirk at Spider-Man. "Finally agreeing to put faith in me and my group?"

"Enough to trust you to help me." Jumping off the roof, Spider-Man started his journey back home to get started for school that will start in a couple of hours. "Maybe even enough to tell you my own secrets I've been gathering."

* * *

"Aunt May, I'm off to go to school!" As Jaune was getting ready to leave out through the door, Aunt May stopped him right when his foot stepped out.

"Hold it young man. I have a question I need you to answer before you go."

"Come on, Aunt May. Can't it wait after school?" Jaune was too tired to deal with this now. He and Qrow have been doing night raids on any safehouse that could hold Roman. It started two nights ago and so far, none had shown promise.

"It's already Thursday, you know?"

' _It's already Thursday? Yeah, it is Thursday and still Qrow and can't seem to catch Roman. He can't possibly have that many in Vale.'_

"Not to mention Friday is the day of the dance at your school."

' _My dance is on Friday, same day as Ruby having her school host their own. Hope Qrow and his boss can see about taking down Cinder and her team. I wonder how he's going to do that though.'_

Just as Qrow showed his contribution to gain Spider-Man's trust, so too did Spider-Man show his by telling Qrow that Beacon is already infiltrated. Knowing that Beacon has moles within the student body was enough for Qrow to call his boss immediately after Spider-Man was finished explaining. Meaning, that whoever Qrow works for should be making some plan to apprehend them before they could start making permanent damage to the school and the students.

' _I never really got to meet Qrow's boss. I was more focused on Roman that I never really asked about meeting the guy. I wonder how they'll work around getting into Beacon though? I'm sure the headmaster would be furious if he found some unknown group invading his school and started taking some students away with force.'_

Jaune didn't tell Qrow about Sandman being created by someone in Oscorp. He would likely think Jaune was crazy from hearing such a thing about someone able to make a man into living sand.

' _I already told him enough about Cinder, but telling him about Oscorp is a different thing entirely. Whoever is using Oscorp tech to make people like Flint into Sandman could theoretically make others just like him. I mean, I became Spider-Man from Oscorp fiddling around with Spiders. Not to mention if I do tell Qrow, then he'll likely inform his boss and he might even try his luck in getting the secrets for himself.'_

As he continued to go over what he'd did this week in his mind, Aunt May asked Jaune a question.

"So, my question for you is if you already have a date yet?"

' _I don't have date, but I did promise Ruby that-wait, hold up!'_

"Wait, hold up!" That question Aunt May asked finally snapped him out of his mind and back to the present. "Are you still on about setting me up for a date, Aunt May?"

"I would take that as a yes, you don't have anyone yet." Satisfied with her answer, Aunt May walked into the kitchen leaving a baffled Jaune still near the front door. "You go ahead and enjoy school, Jaune!"

"Wait, Aunt May! What are you planning?"

"You don't need to worry about that~!" She shouted from the kitchen. "You should be more worried about catching the bus!"

"Aunt May? Aunt May, you better not-ugh!" Having no choice, Jaune hurried to the bus stop to catch a ride to school. "I knew I forgot something."

* * *

"No such luck, huh?" Asked Harry as both boys walked down the hallway leading to the front of their school.

"Nope." Jaune sighed in defeat. "I can't really blame anyone but me for not asking any girl out. I've just been caught up with some personal business."

' _Roman keeps slipping out of my hands. There is no way he could be that lucky enough to evade us for so long.'_

"I'm sure by now Aunt May already told her friend I'm available for Ms. Great personality."

Snickering at Jaune's predicament, Harry stopped his walking and grabbed his friend's shoulder.

"Speaking about great personality, I think it's time to you see who I bagged to dance with me Friday."

"Really, so soon?" Jaune was curious on who Harry asked out. "Where is she? Outside waiting for you?"

"No," Harry pointed at a small group of girls chatting at a set of lockers. "She's right there, in the middle of her friends."

"Wait a minute," Jaune's mind began to remind him that the group of girls were all part of the cheerleading squad. "Isn't that Liz Allen and Sally Avril?"

"Yeah, and the girl in the middle is Glory Grant." Harry smiled, seemingly happy as Juane's disbelief.

Glory Grant was different in skin tone then Liz and Grant, making her have an exotic look, yet she carried herself in a more mature way compared to her group of friends she hangs with. Her group of friends being with the senior football players and cheer squad.

' _I feel like I seen her with someone before, but I can't remember the guy's name.'_

"She's nice, right? I just collected all my courage, walked up to her, asked her to the dance, and she said yes on the spot."

"That sounds-"

"Too good to be true?"

' _I was going to say weird, but I don't want to burst Harry's bubble. I haven't seen him this happy and confident with anyone aside from me and Gwen. Don't want to seem like a bad friend to make him doubt himself to get a girl.'_

"Yeah, Harry, but I knew you'd be able to do it." To show Jaune was proud of him, he patted Harry's back. Making sure that he didn't put too much strength into his hand. "Got to say, I'm jealous. Glad we didn't make any bets to see who could get a girl before the other."

"Yeah, I'm glad we didn't." Harry laughed. "I mean, what are we going to bet if one of us loses?"

"Probably having to wear a dress!"

"Yeah, sure, a dress!" Both Harry and Jaune laughed even harder at the idea of either of them coming to the dance wearing one. "As if we'd be dumb enough to wage a bet like that!"

* * *

"Ok, Qrow," Spider-Man waited on top of the bar they first met, only to see the man not here. "You should already be here by now. Or are you inside drinking? It's going to be really weird if people see me drag you out. I'm actually positive the bartender will thank me rather than reprimand me."

Suddenly, Spider-Man could hear the flapping of wings and was greeted by several black feathers falling in front of him. Instead of hearing the landing of a bird, he heard a pair of shoes hitting the roof signaling Qrow's arrival.

"Sorry for the wait, Webst-"

"Grr!" Spider-Man growled animalistically.

"-head," That seemed to make Spider-Man less angry. "Just needed to go to the little bird's room."

"Is that a weird term for saying you did your business while flying?" Spider-Man's mind began to wander from such an image. "Gross."

"But I had good reason as to why."

"Why you had a good reason to do your business as a bird?"

"No! I was mostly just got held back with some personal errands."

' _I wonder if it involves Ruby and her team. He is her uncle after all.'_

"We've been working with each other for a couple of days now and my boss thinks it's finally time for you to help us with Cinder."

"You guys already have a plan to stop them?" Hearing that made Spider-Man glad he told them. "That's great! Is it tonight? I am so down to do that!"

"No, not tonight," Qrow scratched his fuzzy chin. "Nor are we actually going to doing anything."

"…Excuse me?"

' _Oh boy,'_ The swordsman was already seeing he started the night off with the wrong foot. _'And here I thought we were getting along. Guess those long nights together were for nothing… no homo.'_

"My leader has decided that the best course of action is to simply keep a close eye rather than act so soon. He finds it odd that Cinder is there and is worried she might have set up a backup plan if she did get caught that could leave Beacon damages."

' _Or leave Ruby and her friend injured.'_ Spider-Man can see the reason behind the decision.

"But... you're working with some secret organization! So do some secret spy stuff and take them out in the shadows!"

"Are you saying you want us to kill Cinder?" Qrow squinted his eyes on the hero. "You think we're some kind of hit squad, now? Pick your words wisely, Spider-Man, this isn't some kind of game or comic you think you live in."

"I think you should pick your words wisely, Qrow with no 'c', which I might grammatically wrong!" Rage began to spill into Spider-Man's words. "What I meant was, if your group is so secretive and kept Vale safe before I became a hero, then they must have some way to pull it off. And I don't want Cinder or her follower's dead! I just don't want them near innocent kids who can't defend themselves."

"I'll have you know, that those kids are more ready to deal with threats like Cinder. Compared to you, who would rather be handling menial tasks like helping old ladies cross the street rather than deal with much bigger issues."

Qrow knew that he shouldn't being angry with the guy he's trying to ask for help. Yet, when Spider-Man said that the kids in Beacon were defenseless, kids like his nieces Yang and Ruby, made Qrow pissed off at such a notion.

"You think small stuff like that will stop people like Cinder? I think you need a reality check, because I think your being too self-righteous for your own good."

He should know that it wasn't directed at them, but the way Spider-Man said it sounded like he doesn't believe there capable of defending themselves. Like he was the only one that can do it.

' _This brat!'_ Qrow took a step forward at Spider-Man. _'How the hell does Ruby think he's a hero when he's just some kid lucky enough to stumble upon trouble wearing a stupid costume!'_

' _This guy!'_ Spider-Man also mirrored Qrow's movement making them face each other closer. _'How does Ruby look up to him!? He's rude, obnoxious, drunk, and even more drunk when trying!'_

' _Ruby trained her life to be like her mother and he thinks she isn't capable of fighting! Just because people are liking him cause he's pretending to be a hero, is an insult to all the Huntsmen who risk their lives outside the kingdoms! I don't think we'll ever be friends!'_

"Spider-Man!" Qrow grabbed some of Spider-Man's costume and glared straight at the hero's eye lenses.

' _I fought her minions and those who work for her. She has allies in high places, people who can make people like Flint into monsters. I gave them the needed info and they want to sit on it!?'_

"Qrow!" Doing the same, Spider-Man and Qrow was now glaring each other down with much more intensity. It seemed, that their small-time partnership was beginning to tear apart. ' _I don't think I'll ever like y-!'_

Turning away, the wallcrawler picked up danger from his spider sense telling him that it was nearby.

"Hey!" Qrow was surprised when he saw the masked vigilante jump off the roof and started to swing. "Was it something I said?"

* * *

' _Something is close by and gaining speed!'_ Following his spider sense, it led him into an open road with the only car speeding way past the limit. "The driver is going way too fast!"

Swing the faster, Spider-Man easily caught up to the car and released his hold on his web line to land on the roof of the vehicle.

"I spy with my little eye," Using the side window to view who was in the car. Spider-Man can see that the driver and front passenger was just your run of the mil car thieves. Even sporting dark clothing and even ski masks to hide their identities. "Two robbers and... what the heck!"

Laying on the back seat of the getaway car, there was a little girl, tied up and gagged with the added atrocity of even blind folding her.

"Time for no jokes this time!" Jumping off the roof of the car he made an impact force strong enough to leave a huge dent that made the driver start to swerve.

As the driver gained control, he let out a sigh of relief.

"AHHH!" That relief turned to fear when his head lights shined onto Spider-Man standing tall and in front of them.

"Run him over!" His partner in crime ordered.

Not even needing his spider sense to know the car was gaining more speed to ram him, Spider-Man shot a huge web net behind him and charged right at the car.

Just when he felt the rush of wind heading right at him, Spider-Man jumped over the hood of the car and dived right into the front window.

Glass shattered upon Spider-Man's impact and with great reflex, speed, and agility the hero was able to weave past the front seats and reach the girl. Wrapping his arms tightly around her, Spider-Man shielded her as his body once more broke the back window of the car.

Tensing his muscles, the web head's body shifted himself into position to land feet first. Impacting the hard gravel road to the point that he made feet indents.

' _It's been some time since I really flexed my body to be this durable. If someone would try and hurt me right now, they would probably break their whole hand.'_

"Speaking about breaking," The web net Spider-Man made was not his organic webs, but his more durable and stronger web fluid he keeps in his utility belt for occasions such as these. "That web should have cushioned their impact, as well as the car's airbags too."

Helping untie the girl, the hero was about to ask if he was ok and was thanked by having the girl wrap her arms around his neck.

"I'm glad you're safe," He patted the little girl. "Miss... I'm sorry," Spider-Man chuckled out of embarrassment. "I didn't even ask your name yet."

"It's ok, Spider-Man!" The girl was no longer scared, in fact she seemed like she was over the shattered moon now that she was talking to Spider-Man. "My name is Cassie! You're so cool, Spider-Man! The way you did that web and charged right into that car was cool! I wish my dad was here he would be so excited to meet you!"

"Your dad?"

"Yeah! He's on his way right now! They just took me when he was off doing some very important work!"

' _Important work? Maybe in charge of the bank, that would explain their attempt to use her as a bargaining chip.'_

"Well, Cassie," Even with his spider sense flaring, Spider-Man could hear the car doors opening to show that the kidnappers were alive and awake. "If you please, stand behind me. I got to do my usual clean up tonight!"

Nodding her head, Cassie stayed behind her hero.

"Now, when I move, I need you to run away and find somewhere to hide, ok?"

"Right!"

"Good now," Kicking up gravel, the hero ran to the two thugs. "Run, Cassie!"

Stunned by Spider-Man's blinding speed both men were unable to draw their weapons in time as Spider-Man delivered several quick punches and kicks at them. Each strike, strong but not strong enough to kill, easily put the thugs down on the ground. Their bodies withering in pain from such an instant take down.

"Let that be a lesson to you both." He crossed his arms in front of him to make himself look more intimidating. "Stealing a car is one thing, I mean, that's like a normal everyday occurrence for me. But a little girl too? That's just twisted!"

' _Hunting for Roman can wait, what's more important to me now is making sure this girl gets back to her family.'_

First and foremost, Spider-Man will always help people. Big or small from anyone who needs assistance, he'll do it to the best of his abilities.

' _Qrow may be right about how some of my heroics could be seen as small and juvenile to those training to fight monsters. But here, where some never even saw a real life Grimm before, at least here I can make Vale a little safer taking care of the little guys and their problems.'_

"Huh?" Body going on the defensive, his spider sense began to flare to the point that it was causing him a migraine. "It's close! But where?!"

His gaze went to the two knocked out gunmen. Both of them webbed up and harmless showing no sign of them being the cause. Moving to the car seemed to trigger his spider sense even more, giving him the answer to his problem.

"Oh! CRAP!" Grabbing the two downed men in each hand, Spider-Man tossed them high in the air, and shot a couple of web lines to secure them on the side of a tall building.

A far enough distance away from what's about to happen next.

"Why do I always fall for one of these things!?" Was his last words as a bright flash from the car engulfed his entire being.

* * *

A fist smacked the top of Spider-Man's head, making the webhead to rub the spot that was hit.

"Ow! That really hurt, Qrow!" He wined to the older man. "I'm still suffering from the explosion, you know!"

"Suffering my ass!" Qrow shouted, cradling his hand he used to hit Spider-Man's very hard head. "That damn explosion should have killed you!"

"Don't you men 'could' have killed me?"

"No!"

"Would you believe me if I told you that this wasn't the first time a car exploded right in front of me?"

"And how did that go?" He asked.

"A lot worse than this time, actually." Looking down at his suit, the only damage the hero had were small patches that needed to be sewn as well as his aviator goggles right lens having a crack running down in the center.

The young spider knew that he couldn't distance himself from the explosion after taking priority over the kidnapper's safety. He was fast enough to use all the ice dust and extra strength web cartridges to erect a barrier between himself and the explosion. Leaving him only minor injuries compared to the severe state he was when he first fought Neo and Roman.

"You better be grateful that I helped that kid get to the police. Otherwise, you'd have left a girl all to herself back there. What if there were more of those kidnapers hiding close by? For all we know, that car exploding was likely a trap, you think about that too?"

"I knew you'd help." Spider-Man just waved off Qrow's nagging and just sat on the edge of some random apartment complex enjoying the night sky. "I mean, to be honest, I didn't really think about the off chance of more bad guys coming for Cassie, but I'm still happy you took her to the authorities, Qrow."

"Cool, so, about that thank you?"

"…I'm sorry, Qrow."

"Come again?" Qrow was not expecting an apology from Spider-Man.

"I'm sorry about insulting you and your friends. Not just that, I'm also sorry about how insensitive I talked about Beacon and its students. You are right, Qrow, those students are training to be Huntsmen, training to be heroes, I shouldn't think they can't handle the responsibility that comes with the title."

' _With great power comes great responsibility. Isn't that right, Uncle Ben? It took me some time to finally understand it, but Ruby and everyone living at Beacon knew about power and responsibility long before I did.'_

Qrow didn't say anything after Spider-Man finished, making the webhead wonder if his apology wasn't enough.

"Damn," Doing the same thing, Qrow sat next to the web head. "Here I thought I was the mature one here. I'm also sorry about talking smack about you, Spider-Man. Even when you do help people solve their small problems, you also have it in you to help people like that Cassie girl safe."

"Not just them either, Qrow. The guys who tried to kidnap her, I saved them from the blast too. I knew that if I moved, then they would be caught in the blast, so that's why I moved them away. Because I don't want to see anyone die, even people like Cinder."

' _This kid,'_ The drunkard looked at the hero's injured body as he noticed something off about him. ' _All I see are just some small cuts. Nothing too bad, but if he did say that most of the damage was absorbed from the wall he made, then shouldn't his aura have protected him from the remaining impact?'_

Qrow has seen many people with aura survive many crazy attacks over the years. Ranging from getting hit by grimm to even taking hits from other Huntsmen, but seeing Spider-Man like this made Qrow wonder if he even has aura.

' _Meh, that's future Qrow's problem. Tonight, has been full of emotional tension and right now I just want to get back to what I really wanted to say to Spider-Man.'_

"Well, since we did all that shouting and said our apologies. I wanted to ask you something before all of this started"

"Ok, what's the question?"

"Do you want to go to the dance?"

"You're kidding right?" Spider-Man did a double take to make sure he wasn't suffering from any brain damage from that explosion. "I know we threw a heated argument not too long ago, but I didn't know it would escalate to this."

"Beacon has a school dance tomorrow and my boss want your help." Qrow clarified. "Knowing that Cinder and her goon squad are impersonating as students, they will be attending the dance. Security and the staff will be watching inside the school, but if there is a possibility she does find a way to sneak off while everyone one is there-"

"Then that would leave me the chance to catch her in the act!"

"I said there could be a chance she would try and sneak off. That's why I said we won't do anything about her. That is, until we actually catch her in the act."

Raising his hand in to Spider-Man, Qrow made another added bonus to Spider-Man.

"When we do get her or if she does stay and keep pretending to be a perfect student is a 50/50 chance. Whichever one goes down; you will also be getting the chance to finally meet my leader."

' _Qrow's leader! The guy in charge of some super secret order. Does this mean he wants to talk to me?'_

"Like before, he extended a hand of faith to you, Spider-Man. We have a common goal at protecting Vale and we would like it if you help us."

' _They did help me with my progress in stopping Roman and the White Fang gaining info from Junior.'_

"Ok, you got yourself a spider." He sold the deal by taking Qrow's extended and shacked it. "It only seems fair after all. Do I have to wear a suit over my costume though?"

As Spider-Man let go of the handshake, a thought came to mind about how he was supposed to help.

"If I'm going to help keep an eye out for anything strange. How will I help when I'm sure the Atlas military and even Beacon security will capture me? Do I get a security badge or something?"

' _Oz didn't say about me not telling Spider-Man about who he was, only about bringing Spider-Man to Beacon. Screw it, I'll make it future Qrow's problem.'_

"Then I hope you don't mind staying out a little bit longer tonight." Reaching over to his hip flash, Qrow took a couple of swigs before he started talking. "Cause what I'm about to say next will really blow your mind."

* * *

 **Next chapter will be the final arc for the dance! There will be new character reveals and characters that have already been introduced, but have been obscured for reasons that will soon come to light! This chapter was mainly about how well Spider-Man and Qrow works together and also their dynamic. I also wanted to add Ozpin's perspective, but thought against it and just focused on Jaune.**

 **This chapter, I added some more characters to further evolving Jaune's school life, as shown with Harry's date and also Gwen's date. Some of you might see that it was taken from The Spectacular Spider-Man's animated series, which I am a die-hard fan of. However, I will still use all forms of Spider-Man, ranging from shows, movies, and video games. I just want most of the main cast to be teens, so it would be easier and also more closely put together if most were around the same age as teenagers.**

 **Spider-Man and Qrow was by far my most enjoyable thing to write about. Because I felt like some would believe they would make a great partnership, but in reality, is just a big mistake. I also wanted to wright the tension they have for each other and how they cope with Cinder being in Beacon. Spider-Man has seen first hand how Cinder's team operates and is afraid for Ruby and his friend's in Beacon. While on Qrow's perspective we get to see how it feels like Spider-Man does not believe the students, and by extension his nieces, aren't really ready even though they have trained since they were kids.**

 **Remember, these two have different views and opinions that clash with each other that resulted in their little stare down. They also did not start in the right foot when meeting each other, so some animosity still lingers between them.**

 **As you now know, with the entrance of Cassie being kidnapped and rescued. An introduction of another hero will be shown in the near future. Now, I won't make sides stories stores of other heroes within this one, due to the fact that it is mainly a Spider-Man/RWBY fic.**

 **Yes, it is true when I said that Jaune will get some new abilities and I will keep that promise. One ability I will make sure to put in more use is the spider sense. Some would say that it only sense danger heading to Spider-Man, but it has shown to do so much more. In the comics, Spider-Man used it to track the Chameleon in the first issue, showing that Spider-Man can use it as a form of sensor. Meaning, I have already shown Jaune's ability getting more and more evolved, so I did keep my promise!**

 **Anyway, I was mostly so focused on the story that I have actually yet shown any progress within the characters. Which is why I had shown Jaune finally moving with his life by quitting his small jobs and also furthering his social standing. He can't always be the wall flower in school, life is not always like that. Just like how Peter changed throughout his high school life. Some of you are also confused or maybe think that Jaune staying with Aunt May is confusing and is also a plot hole. I just skipped the usual origin story and only gave somewhat vague flashbacks of Jaune getting denied from Beacon. Never really gave much in-depth backstory behind him being they're before the main cast of RWBY showed up.**

 **If those who want to know more about it, rest assured there is a reason for why I just skipped Jaune's backstory and I will reveal it in future chapters. I just thought that people already had enough about Spider-Man's origin and decided to just time skip to the present.**

 **It has been somewhat of a slow pace and I have just filled on some of it with my own filler, cause most of the episode RWBY canon showed had many time skips that I thought I would add my own ideas. I see that some would rather just have it stick with the main canon and I will strike a balance between the two.**

 **Now, for the story and Jaune, I will limit the split sections and POVs. It's a Spider-Man fic first and foremost, so I will make sure to always have Jaune's side the main focus. Whenever I show a different POV either by Ozpin's side or Cinder's, some would think I lack the power behind them. That is why I will just do Jaune's POV and if I see a majority wanting the other faction's perspective, I will come back to them.**

 **If you liked this chapter and want to know when I will release another one. Make sure to like, Fav, and also follow my story to get immediate updates on when the next chapter will be released. Also, make sure you do the same for my Beta and his stories too! Thank you!**

* * *

 **[Omake: A little help makes big changes]**

* * *

"Cassie! I'm so glad You're ok, sweetie." Scott kissed his daughter's head repeatedly. His arms securely wrapped around her to calm his fears for almost losing her. "I'm so sorry! I should have known it was a trap, I'm so stupid!"

"It's ok, dad." Cassie, having enough affection, pushed her dad to give her some space. "Spider-Man saved me!"

"Oh yes, I heard he saved you from those guys who kidnapped you." Scott knew that he would not make it in time to save Cassie, so he was forever grateful for Spider-Man's help for rescuing Cassie. "Thank you, Spider-Man! Thank you thank you."

' _I know you're not here, but if I ever get to meet you. I'll make sure to give you a proper thank you.'_

The man was caught in a set up from one of Hank Pym's old enemies hellbent on taking the particles from him that he was not sure if he would have survived the encounter.

Luckily for him, his partner was able to save him in the nick of time.

"Cassie!"

' _Speaking about partners.'_

Turning to face a voice behind him, Scott spotted Hank's daughter, Hope Pym, walk past the police and medical staff looking just as excited as he is for knowing Cassie was ok.

"Hope!" Cassie shouted as Hope Pym reached for Scott's daughter to giver the young girl a hug. "I'm so happy to see you!"

"Me too, I'm happy to see you too!"

As the warm feeling of security washed over them, the cold realization soon settled in as Hope looked at Scott with a grave look in her eyes.

"I checked the car and I don't see any signs of any bomb that set of that explosion."

Scott looked at the wreck that was once a vehicle that was now taped off with several officers blocking anyone from getting close to it. Hope wasn't part of the police force, so it should have been impossible for her to go in there.

Yet she did, but not in the conventional way.

"It's fine, Hope." Scott brushed it off at the loss as to the cause of the combustion. "We already know who it was, so going after them shouldn't be a problem. But making sure Cassie gets home safe is my main priority."

"Of course, Scott." Giving Cassie back to her father, Hope squeezed Scott's shoulder and smiled. "You take her home. I'll just follow any leads I have and let you know when I get something."

"Take care, Hope."

"You too, Scott." Before she could leave, the partner of Scott Lang poked Cassie's nose. "Goodnight, darling!"

"Goodnight!" Waving goodbye, both Father and daughter watched at Hope was lost to the crowd.

"I think we had our fair share of adventure for tonight, am I right?"

"Yeah!" She nodded. "You think we can see Spider-Man again?"

"I hope so, Cassie. I really, really hope so."


	35. Chapter 35

Disclaimer: **Brotherhoof12 doesn't own RWBY or Marvel.**

* * *

 **(Chapter 35: The dance. Warning: Don't let a black cat cross your path!)**

* * *

"I'm so happy to see you wearing something like this, Jaune." Aunt May, his landlord and also parental guardian smiled as she saw Jaune getting ready to leave for the Midtown Highschool dance.

"I feel like I may be pushing it with wearing this." Jaune tugged at his collar for more breathing room. What he had on was a bright blue suit that matched with his ocean deep eyes, sleek black dress shoes, and a white button up dress shirt.

He thought he would rent one from some store, but Aunt May was persistent on him buying an actual suit for himself. Not just that either, she wanted him to buy more clothes for himself now that Jaune has more than enough Lien to spend.

"It's ok to buy things for yourself, Jaune. You earned this by working so hard and now you're reaping some of the rewards." Aunt May patted his back and smiled at how Jaune looked so mature with what he was wearing. "No more buying things from the thrift store. It was high time you needed to get new things rather than someone else's hand me downs."

' _She does have a point.'_ Looking at his reflection from the living room mirror hanging on the wall next to the front door hallway, Jaune looked at his appearance and felt happy at how good he looked for his school's dance. _'I helped Aunt May pay for the bills and I still have some Lien leftover. Maybe I could look online sometime later to start buying some stuff to make my original suit sturdier. The one I'm currently using may make it easier to hide, but it sure isn't helping me when I'm web slinging with the sun beating down on me.'_

 **(Knock—Knock)**

"Oh! She's here early!" If Aunt May wasn't already happy to see Jaune going to the dance, she seemed ecstatic when she heard someone at the door.

"Terrific." Jaune muttered, dreading this moment when he would meet the girl Aunt May has hook him up with. "Ah, well... it's not like it's going to matter anyway. Hope she doesn't think any less of me if I just suddenly leave."

Jaune was sure he would get a disapproving look at Aunt May when she learns that he left his date alone at school, but tonight was something that outweighed the consequences.

Qrow's boss, the leader of some shadow organization, and the headmaster of Beacon Academy requested his help tonight.

It came to a shock to him to hear that someone with such a high status would be in charge of some old order that apparently kept Vale's true threats away. Yet his surprise soon faded, most likely due to experiencing other far out and even strange encounters himself.

What Ozpin needed help with was to have him scout the outer perimeter of his school in case Cinder pulled one over them and tried to leave the dance. Qrow even went further about Ozpin's plan and told him that several other staff members of Beacon are also part of Ozpin's secret group and are also making sure to keep an eye out on her including himself.

' _Regardless of his plan to just watch her, I still need to make an appearance at my school before I pop smoke and leave.'_

"Jaune~! Your date is here~!" The sound of Aunt May's cheery voice gave Jaune the signal to turn around.

' _Ok,'_ Mentally preparing himself for what happens next, Jaune went over his head one more time about how he should greet Ms. Personality. _'Just a normal greeting and then make an excuse to leave when we get there.'_

"Hi! Nice to meet you! Name's Jaune Arc, it's short, sweet, rolls of the tongue and ladies…" Just when he was about to finish his corny greeting, Jaune finally caught the full sight of Ms. Personality. "...love it."

In that instant, when Jaune's sapphire colored eyes met majestic emerald eyes, he knew that this night was not going according to plan.

Deep red hair cascaded over her slender shoulders that showed her flawless skin and reaching to her slim waist that was further enhanced by the pure black dress that hugged with just enough room to show her perfect hourglass figure.

"Jaune," As soon as she saw Jaune's body go still when meeting his date, Aunt May knew she made the right choice. "I like you to meet Mary Jane Watson!"

"So," Hearing Mary Jane's voice made the blonde boy jolt from his stupor. "Short, sweet, rolls of the tongue, huh?"

The way she played with those words Jaune said made his cheeks burn from embarrassment leaving Ms. Watson to giggle at his awkwardness.

"And what was the last part?" The red head tilted her head to make some of her crimson hair fall on the other side of her shoulder with some covering her eye.

"Ladies love it." Jaune didn't know how he could still keep a straight face when he said those words. But when she heard her laugh, it was full of delight at hearing him say it a second time.

"You don't say, tiger." Flipping her hair back. Mary Jane smiled to show her straight white teeth and gave her own greeting. "Call me MJ, and I guess you're not the only one who hit the jackpot." She grins at her date.

* * *

Dances in schools was a fundamental part of any highschool student. Some used this as a chance to ask someone they want to be romantically involved with in hopes to tell their feelings. Others scoff at the notion of school making students buy over priced tickets and just go to such events in casual clothes and make fun of it all.

For Jaune Arc, it seemed it would be neither as both he and his date strolled through the dance floor with several eyes lingering between them.

"Who is that girl?"

"Is that Jaune?"

"She's so hot! And she's that guy's date?"

"Wow, guess it is always the quiet ones you need to look out for."

"Didn't know Jaune would look that good in a suit."

As the chatter spread around the gym that was the school's dance hall. Both Jaune and MJ ignored them all and focused on each other's company as they simply moved to the sound of the music.

"So, I got to ask. How's it like living in a big place like Vale?" MJ shoot first.

"I was pretty scared being somewhere so dense with people. My village never had that kind of problem, so everyone knew almost everyone."

"A village, huh? Can't really say that isn't so bad, beats traffic if where you need to go is just a couple of steps away."

"I don't know about traffic." Jaune smiled. "I find ways to get where I want here just fine. What I'm glad most of all is that my family didn't decide for me to get a job as a farmer."

"A farm boy?" MJ smiled at just imagining seeing Jaune being a farmer. "That I have to see someday. Your Aunt told me a lot about you, but hearing you say all that just makes it even funnier."

"And what did my Aunt say about me?" Jaune asked out of curiosity.

"The usual thing she tells her friends, how you're a smart student and how you're already getting a full ride to some fancy college at Atlas. In my head, you're a lot more different then I thought you'd be."

"And what did you think I would look like?" Getting comfortable with how she and him were dancing, Jaune was able to ask in a more casual and calm tone rather than stutter and trip over his words when she stepped inside his house.

"I thought she was just adding fluff about how you look, but I can see now that I shouldn't judge a book by its cover."

"Same here." What Jaune said was not supposed to be said outloud, only it did the opposite of what he thought it would and had MJ laugh even harder.

"Then I'm glad we're both wrong."

The two teens then broke in to a fit of laughs and giggles at their honesty with one another.

"This place is also a nice environment to study in. I can't wait to enroll here soon."

"You're going to be a student here?"

"My Aunt thinks this place will be better for me." Shrugging her shoulders, MJ then gave Jaune a wink. "Give it a week or two, I'll be ruling this school in no time."

Laughing at her strange yet endearing humor, Jaune was once again proven wrong at how he thought tonight was going to be.

' _Aunt May was right. MJ really does have a great personality. I can't wait for her to be joining Midtown High. I wonder if she will be part of one of my classes?'_

"Your Aunt told me you joined the football team." MJ said.

"It was mostly my Friend, Harry, who wanted to join and he thought he needed my help to join football. I was never into sports and I soon started to like playing and so did Harry."

"Is he here too? I would love to meet more of your friends, Jaune."

"Oh, yeah. My friends should be here with their own date." Looking around the sea of students dancing and shuffling to the beat of the music, he could see some of familiar faces near the punch bowl. "They're right over there."

Leading MJ by her arm, Jaune walked over to the concession table to greet them.

"Hey, Gwen, Eddie." The tanned skinned senior gave Jaune a smile while his fellow blonde just moved his head to show his acknowledgment. "This is MJ, my date!"

It seemed while Jaune is wearing blue and MJ wearing black, Gwen and Eddie seemed to share the same idea, only to have Gwen wear a stunning light blue gown with Eddie having a deep black suit with the only sign of him wearing white was his tie.

"Trust us, Jaune." Gwen moved her hand that was holding her cup to where Jaune and MJ was originally placed. "Most of the people here couldn't help but make a few glances at who you brought. First was Blake, and now this? Jaune, I got to ask, but are you sure you're not some Casanova?"

"Gwen, please," He put his hand over his face to shield himself from his friend's statement. "Can we not talk about her right now? I feel like every time we talk, Blake's name is always gets added into the mix."

"Pretty sure most of everyone is still thinking about her, even some of the girls in this school too." Gwen looked at MJ when she said that part. "But yeah, I'm sure people will soon forget. Cause they now have something else to talk about. Like you having someone like her hanging on your arm."

Groaning at Gwen's teasing, MJ patted Jaune's back and laughed at how Gwen was making him so flustered.

"Trust me, Jaune," Eddie, deciding that he wanted to help Jaune from getting more embarrassed, made someone else the target. "At least you have a date, unlike your other friend, Harry."

"Harry?" Soon, it dawned to him when he realized he hasn't seen Harry around. "I thought he was with his date? Glory Grant."

" _Was_ with his date," Pointing to where he was looking, Jaune followed where Eddie was pointing at and saw Glory Grant in a beautiful bright orange dress dancing with a large student. "That's her boyfriend, Kenny McFarlane, he's in my math class, always sleeping while the teacher keeps most of his attention on the computer."

Surprise turned to realization and it soon struck Jaune with an answer.

"Kenny Kong!" His outburst made Gwen almost choke on her punch and made MJ laugh even louder at his sudden outburst. "I know him, he is part of the football team. He's so wide and looks fat, but I once saw him push back two linebackers!"

"Yup, that's the guy alright. He's also kind of childish and even a bit slow to read the room sometimes. I think that's why I heard that he and Grant broke up. Though, it looks like they're back together again."

"Oh, man, I can't believe Harry's date would do that to him." Jaune wasn't expecting this to happen. He was really happy to see Harry so happy with all that was coming his friend's way. "Do you know where he went, Gwen?"

"He went through the double doors connected to the main building." She shrugged her shoulders. "Doubt you would find him. Harry stormed out of here just when you arrived."

"And you told me this now?!"

"Give me a break! From seeing Harry getting tossed aside from his date and then to you having someone like her," Gwen pointed at MJ. "Being your date, is just too much for me!"

"Quit being dramatic." Once more, Eddie stepped in to the conversation. "It wasn't like she couldn't stop Harry from leaving. I tried to look for him around school and Gwen kept calling him. Never found him and Harry keeps ignoring her calls."

' _Ok, I know how I wasn't supposed to care about this dance. But Harry was really looking forward to being here._ ' Looking at Harry's date dancing with someone else made Jaune glare at the couple who ruined his best friend's night. _'It's not fair that his hardwork to getting to where he is now was rewarded with this.'_

Yet, Jaune couldn't be more thankful for this moment for what he was about to do next.

"I'm going to go find him."

"Jaune, I just told you that I already tried that." Eddie said.

"Yeah, Jaune, we both did." Gwen agreed with Eddie. "Just let him have his own space. He'll let us help him, but for now, we need to give him some alone time before we start overbearing him."

"I know, and I also know you tried your hardest too, Gwen." Walking away, the secret hero turned to MJ. "I'm sorry, MJ, but he's my friend, and I just don't-"

"Don't worry," A slender, well-manicured finger was placed on Jaune's lips. "I'll be here with your friends. Maybe it will give me more time to get to know this place better, so just go and check on Harry."

Moving the finger from his lips, Jaune breathed out her name. "MJ."

"Well?" Her smile widened. "What are you waiting for? Go get him, tiger."

Smiling, Jaune bolted to where Harry left, leaving MJ with Gwen and Eddie.

"So," Gwen looked at Eddie and then to MJ. "You like our school so far?"

"I like it," MJ glanced back at where Jaune left. "I already started to like the people who go here. The students are way nicer compared to the jerks who I go to school with."

"Then," Getting another cup of punch, Gwen handed it to MJ, raised her own, and soon, Eddie followed her examples as well as MJ. "I welcome you, to the socially awkward!"

"To the socially awkward!" Touching cups, the three soon became fast friends as they talked the night away.

* * *

Walking past students and couples alike, Jaune made sure that before he goes out of school, he would at least do one thing to help Harry feel better.

' _Just got to get a little bit closer,'_ Thanks to the lights being dimmed to give the gym/dance room more ambiance, it made Jaune easier to blend into the students as he got closer to Kenny dancing with Grant. _'I know responsible wise I shouldn't do what I'm about to do, but at the same time, they shouldn't have just brushed aside Harry. So, sorry not sorry, Kenny.'_

Kenny and Glory were dancing to the rhythm of the slow music being played by the sound system which made it the perfect opportunity for Jaune to shoot a web line on to Kenny's right shoe, pulled it when Kenny was just about to make a step, and walked away as he heard the sound of Kenny landing on top of Glory.

' _Now,'_ Exiting the gym, Jaune looked around to empty hallway. _'Time to go to work.'_

* * *

If Beacon looked beautiful during the day, then it looked positively magical at night because due to how it looked like a castle from its high clocktower and its large stone crafted layout people could always see it during the day with how magnificent it looks. At night, the academy has lights that were so bright it encompasses the tower that makes the name of the school really put the emphasis on the word 'Beacon' for how it displays itself.

Right now, Spider-Man was outside the school gate, standing on top of the highest building, and was scoping the area for anything strange.

"Maybe another swing around the school and I'll take a small break." Leaping off the roof, his arms instinctively began to shoot web line after web line and glided through the air. "Not really seeing much from here. That's a good thing, but I wonder how everything is going on Qrow's side."

Deciding to enter Beacon's perimeter, Spider-Man landed on the side of the CCT tower and peered down for anyone that could be suspicious.

"It's weird that I don't really see enough guards outside," Climbing a bit higher, Spider-Man used what little shadows the CCT had as cover from any unwanted eyes. "Especially when Qrow told me that Atlas soldiers were here as well."

What Qrow told him when he arrived at the usual spot was just the usual rundown he spoke to Spider-Man before. Right now, it seemed like the number of soldiers for security was just a small percentage since most are indoors protecting the staff and students. Qrow also gave Spider-Man an earpiece so he will be in touch if either one has something to report.

Right now though, it seemed to go quiet on Spider-Man's side and with Qrow not reporting back, he can only assume that the Huntsman is having the same results as Spider-Man was.

"Now that I'm seeing Beacon in this setting. I can honestly see this place is really amazing." Spider-Man moved his head to have his eyes scan the entire view of Beacon. "This place could even be a theme park with how massive this school is."

Suddenly, Spider-Man's eyes spotted movement from just across from where Ruby and her team lives. It was small, could even just be the shadows playing tricks, but for Spider-Man, it could mean something else.

"Qrow," Not even taking a chance, he put his index finger on to the earpiece and contacted the other end. "Can you hear me?"

"…Yeah, I hear you." Qrow said in a disinterested tone.

"I think I'm seeing movement." As Spider-Man was talking, he once more began to see a shadow shifting from building to another. Even with night vision helping him, he was still having trouble trying to identify this stranger. "I saw it again! Qrow, I think it could be Cinder!"

* * *

On Qrow's side, the man was no longer lounging on the wall and soon started to pull out his scroll to inform Ozpin of what Spider-Man told him. At the same time, he was also watching his target who was dancing with a boy with grey hair.

"That's where you're wrong, Webhead." Qrow now sounded alert. "Because I've been keeping my eye on her this entire time!"

 _"What!?"_

"I didn't stutter," Even now, Qrow was staring dead center at Cinder, trying his best to see that it could be an imposter or even maybe a trick that he was trapped in. "I see her plain as day."

 _"It could be a trick! One of her minions has a semblance that could fool your senses."_

"Can't really just walk up to her, grab her by the arm, and check if she's real." Qrow said bluntly.

Hearing his scroll go off, the red-eyed huntsman read the message Ozpin sent him.

"Spider-Man, where are you exactly?"

 _"I'm at the CCT tower."_

"I need you to be my eyes and guide me to where you see this person. I'll be heading out right-"

"Uncle Qrow!" A familiar sight of rose petal invaded his eyes and a pair of arms wrapped itself around his midsection. "I need your help!"

"Ruby?" Putting his finger out of his earpiece, the uncle unhooked Ruby's arms away from him. "What's wrong?"

"I can't find Blake. She was here with Sun and then she suddenly disappeared."

"I'm sorry, but I didn't see her." He answered.

"But I thought you were supposed to keep an eye out for us?"

"I'm also assigned to watch…" Qrow was drawing a blank, but soon found his excuse. "The punch bowl."

"Why the punch bowl?" Ruby seemed confused at what her uncle just told her.

"Because Yang, teens, and hormones is why, Ruby." Shaking himself to get back to the main topic, Qrow put both his hands over her niece's shoulders. "I promise I will look for her and get her back here. You need to stay as well as your friends until the party is over."

"But, Uncle Qrow!" She did not finish what she had to say as he simply ignored her and ran to the exit. "I hope he finds her soon..." Ruby said with a worried look.

The young huntress stared out of the window to wonder if Blake could be out there either in the library or back to their room. While looking outside, she then started to see someone running on top of a rooftop.

"Who's that?"

* * *

"Qrow? Hey, Qrow? What's happening over there?!"

No response.

' _Guess I'm doing this solo for now.'_

Climbing higher on the tower, Spider-Man shifted his body to have him face forward to the air and laid his back to the cold stone surface of the tower.

"Need to try and focus on finding this guy." Focusing on his surroundings, the spider themed hero's restlessness only seemed to grow more and more with each second passing with nothing in sight. "Did I already lose sight of him?"

' _Was the guy trying to leave Beacon rather than infiltrate it? Maybe he already got what he needed? I wonder-'_

His head rang.

"Wait," Shifting his body to get ready to jump. "Spider-sense is picking up something…. behind me?!"

Reflexes kicking in, the hero's inhuman reaction and flexibility made Spider-Man dodge whatever attack was aimed at him.

What past him was a black and white blur as it fell straight down and soon stopped when the stranger was able to stop the fall with his clawed hands.

Finally getting a better look at who tried to attack him. He saw that it was not a man, but a woman who was wearing a skin tight black suit with white plumes of fur on her ankles and forearms that also matched her long pure white hair. She also was wearing some kind of masquerade mask that was also pitch black to match her costume with even a platinum collar to make her aesthetic resemble that of a feline.

"A cat burglar?" Spider-Man tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"Pretty obvious assumption, Spider~" She purred, seemingly in the playful mood even with how she was clinging to the side of the high tower. "Got to say, wasn't expecting for our little meeting to be this soon. Yet, I can't say I'm not happy either~"

"Oh? You planned to meet me some other time, then?" Playing her act, Spider-Man stood up straight, making him stand vertically on the communication tower, and putting both his hands over his head. "If you want, I can set up a time and place where it can just be the two of us? How does prison at downtown Vale sound to you?"

"Ha, ha, hah!" The cat thief laughed at his nonchalance. "Tempting, but I have to say no, spider. This kitty has some errands to run, and handling you wasn't part of it."

' _So, she's just hired help. Can I assume it's Cinder that is her buyer? If so, then why is she here out in the open?'_

"By the way, Spider-Man, I'm sure you're probably wondering why I decided to show myself to you rather than just sneaking around."

"Is it too much of a stretch if I just thought that you just wear that cat suit cause you like cats?" Spider-Man quipped.

"Says the guy being a spider." The mysterious cat burglar shot back.

"Meh," He shrugged. "Ok, you got me on that one."

"If I'm being honest, I just wanted to see for myself how good you really are in real life and that I just couldn't pass the opportunity to try my luck with you. And speaking about luck, I should also tell you my name."

Without warning, the cement under Spider-Man's adhesive feet broke off from the wall. Leaving Spider-Man to be in midair for a brief moment until gravity finally kicked in and started to bring him down to ground level.

"Whaaa!?" Thinking fast, he tried to shoot a web line to the tall structure only for the same result to happen again as the piece of wall broke upon contact. "I'm having a bad case of Deja vu!"

"Call me Black Cat~!" Gesturing a small hand wave goodbye, she watched as the image of Spider-Man became smaller and smaller as each second passed. "Catch you later, Spider~!"

* * *

' _I need to fix my body before I become a pancake!'_

Changing his position, the wallcrawler faced belly down and saw that the ground of almost upon him.

 **(TWIP)**

As if Spider-Man's luck came back all at once, his lifeline had just enough length to slow his falling and had the added momentum to swing him around the CCT like a tether ball.

Wind hitting his face through his mask as he sailed around the tower with breakneck speed. Spider-Man released his hold on his web when he was an arm's reach to touch the solid cement surface. Hands flat on the wall, his adhesive ability instantly stopped his body from moving a single inch.

"What was that?" Removing one hand off the wall, he looked at his wrist to see if there was a reason for such a strange occurrence happening to him. "My hands are able to stick to things just fine."

Spider-Man tested if his feet were also fine by standing up straight leaving him to walk vertically up the wall.

"Feet also doing good too. I don't believe this thing is brittle enough to not support my weight. A Semblance perhaps? One where she can tamper with surfaces?"

Not having the time to wallcrawl, Spider-Man pushed his legs forward to the top. Sprinting back to where he last saw her, Spider-Man saw her handiwork from a window with a hole cut in to the glass showing him how she entered the building.

"Leaving her entrance for me to see. Either she thinks she's confident she can escape from me or it could be an invitation."

Entering through the hole, Spider-Man looked around to see that he was in a lobby.

"I should be close to the top," Touching the floor to feel for any vibrations, he tried his luck with the ceiling as he shot a web line above him to sense any movement on the next floor. "But I'm not picking up any forms of movement. There should be guards up here, right? Did she already handle them while I got up here?"

Then, for a moment, he felt just a small tremor traveling through his web and into his hand.

"It's faint, but I'm betting that's her!" Pulling hard on the line, he felt the floor beneath him soon leave and his vision became upside down as he was now clinging to the ceiling. "Time to declaw this little putty tat!"

* * *

Crawling through the ventilation shaft to reach the next floor, the hero could start to hear the sounds of a fight happening that was getting louder and louder as he continued to move forward.

"There she is," Stopping right above where he spotted Black Cat, he could see that there were a handful of Atlas soldiers on the floor groaning in pain and only five or so still left standing. "Got to say, for a cat burglar, she really knows how to move."

Spider-Man remembered the first time he met the Atlas military was when he investigated Sandman's rampage at the docks. He was quite scared to go against another kingdom's military, even though he's a genetically enhanced superhuman.

With their durable body armor, deadly weapons, and unit cohesion that Atlas always boasts about was soon thrown away as a young thief dressed in a skimpy cat costume decimated their ranks as she danced around her opponents.

Their durable combat suits did not help them as she aimed at the joints unguarded, leaving some with limbs dislocated and even more soldiers with bloody mouths with missing teeth.

Weapons seemed to hold no effect either as those who tried to fire their guns seemed to either jam or explode from the dust round in the chamber going off in the barrel.

Teamwork among the ranks also devolved into a disorganized mess as she was too quick on her feet for anyone to get eyes on where she is. Even those who tried to fend her off with close range weapons such as batons and fists gave no help to those with functioning rifles to get a clear shot at her.

"Wow, got to give some props to her. I'm positive I could move the way she's moving, but that's cause of the spider bite." Spider-Man's observation of her stopped when he remembered why he was here. "Stop complementing her! I need to get down there and help!"

As Black Cat was busy handling Jumping down from the vent, he crouched down on all fours and aimed two well placed web lines at her legs. Pulling the strings, he saw Black Cat get thrown into the air only to then feel his web lines snap leaving Black Cat free from his surprise attack.

' _Again!? This time with my webs snapping so easily!?'_

No longer having the element of surprise, Black Cat easily fixed her body's position so she would land on her feet.

"Spider-Man!" Spider-Man hated how she sounded way to happy to see him so soon. "Here you are again and looking very much alive! Glad you're the type of guy to want seconds from a girl like me!"

She gave him a wink, yet it only drove him to not like her.

"I'm not letting you hurt anymore people!" He declared, ignoring the scattered bodies of injured soldiers. "…Starting now!"

' _Really should have jumped in and helped way sooner.'_

Not wasting anymore time talking, Black Cat pounced straight at Spider-Man with her gloved hands in front of her.

Spider-Man attempted to just grab her wrists and throw her in a different direction, but his spider-sense told him that it was a bad decision if he did so. Rather, Spider-Man turned his body sideways for Black Cat to miss her mark as her sharp claws impaled themselves into the solid floor.

Once again, his spider-sense saved him from getting harmed as his body jumped away when Black Cat lifted her legs and attempted to used her combat heels that also has sharp claws to stab the hero.

Showing amazing upper body strength as she pushed her entire body in the air using just her arms. The cat thief dive kicked at Spider-Man only for her attack to miss the mark. Not wanting to be on the evading side for too long, Spider-Man started to throw some punches at his opponent.

Jabs, straights, left and right hooks were his attacks as Spider-Man turned the tables with Black Cat now dodging his attacks. His street level fighting maybe low tier compared to people like Yang and a few other Huntsmen trained in actual martial arts. However, his strikes were still very deadly thanks to his super strength gifted from him thanks to the spider bite that if one hit actually connected to Black Cat it would leave a very distinctive bruise. If by chance he was lucky enough to land one squarely one her head, then the fight would have ended then and there.

"Come on, Spider!" Strength seemed to not be the answer for this fight, as Black Cat also displayed great reflexes and agility as she weaved from blow after blow. "You can't tease a girl for so long! When are you actually going to get serious?"

"I am!" Letting his anger take control for a brief moment. He brought down his right fist and just when Black Cat moved away from the punch, she saw just how serious he was.

 **(BAM)**

Now, people like Yang would have sent a small shockwave with a punch and some Huntsmen who wield big weapons can also have the same effect. Spider-Man on the other hand, did not shatter the floor beneath him, rather his punch was so fast and powerful that it _went_ through the floor.

As if not even registering that his forearm was deep inside the floor, he pulled out his arm back and continued to keep the pressure, not once giving Black Cat the time to attack or counter. She seemed to be a bit more cautious after his display of power and wasn't attempting to try and attack if she saw an opportunity.

' _She doesn't want to hit me if there is a chance that I might grab her.'_ Spider-Man assumed. _'Can't really blame her. Roman broke his hand when I tested my body, so I'm sure it would be the same of she tried to land an attack.'_

"You know something, Black Cat?" Seeing as she is no longer talking, it gave Spider-Man the chance to start up the conversation. "I'm now starting to feel really bad for the thugs I always talk trash on. You know, on the account that I'm the one getting trashed talked on. So, when I fight the usual crook, I'll make sure to take them down then talk smack about them."

"How thoughtful," She grumbled, seeming to drop her playfulness and switched to a more cold and sassy tone. "I'm so happy to know you have a bleeding heart for other people."

Just as she said that, the white-haired burglar lifted her left arm and shot out a black cable with a small sharp claw at Spider-Man.

"First, you were flirty and playful," He moved his head just an inch to the left to dodge the projectile. "And now you're cold and distant? You really do play your role well just to fit your costume design."

Pulling back her cable, Spider-Man's spider-sense instantly made him move his body away as a large unconscious soldier was about to collide into the hero.

Black Cat, not even moving as the Atlas solider as barreling towards her, simply caught the knocked-out man with both arms.

"What are you doing?!" He gasped. "Put him down, he isn't involved in this!"

"Don't worry," Black Cat then started to search the man's body. "Just wanted to have a little bit of insurance for what's about to happen."

"What's about to happen," Raising a hand, he shot a web at the hostage and pulled. "Is that you're about to go for a cat nap."

Smiling for some reason, Black Cat only hugged the soldier even tighter as she was also flung to the hero. Catching the man in one hand, Spider-Man's quick reflexes was able to grab Black Cat's closed fist with his other hand.

Holding her wrist and tightening his hold like a vice, his opponent made a small grimace of pain, but she still retained that smug smile.

"Got anything else to say?" He asked, his masked face just a breath away from her. _'Spider-sense is tingling, but I caught her attack, so why is it telling me I'm in danger?'_

"Well, I do remember in the movies you're supposed to pull these out." She uncurled her caught fist and revealed a grenade in and dangled it in front of Spider-Man.

Spider-Man's eyes moved to see a cylindrical object getting thrown behind Black Cat's head and just when he was about to move his entire sight became pure white.

* * *

' _Even when I'm your enemy, you still tried to protect me.'_

"GAAAH!" Spider-Man landed on his back and placed his hands on his face. With how close the flashbang grenade was to him, Black Cat has no doubt that he was in tremendous pain.

Black Cat merely stood where she was, her hands behind her back, as she watched Spider-Man groan and turn side to side on the floor.

How she wasn't like him was tossing the flashbang behind her so she wouldn't get caught in the flash. Black Cat's ears were stilling ringing from the sound it made, yet Spider-Man still did his best to make sure she wasn't harmed.

' _Just as soon as you saw it, you immediately dropped us and jumped to the grenade thinking it was an explosive.'_ If she wasn't already interested in the wallcrawler, she was now infatuated with him and his heroic display. _'Heroic, reckless, and a bit stupid, yet I can't help but like you even more.'_

Hearing beeping coming from the mainframe of the CCT, Black Cat walked to where the noise was coming from.

"Already done," She looked at the scroll she placed on top of the control table before Spider-Man showed up. "So glad that I didn't have to deal with computers. Just needed to place it where all the information goes through and it does it for me. Just like the employer said it would do."

Placing the scroll inside the small pocket within the lining of her suit, she was just about to escape using the same method as Spider-Man.

 _ **(TWHIP)**_

A web line stopped her from moving forward as Spider-Man, still clutching his head with his other hand, was getting ready to fight her again.

"I'm not," Shaking his head to clear his mind, Spider-Man took a few deep breaths before speaking again. "Finished yet."

"Come on, Spider," She let out a breath of disappointment. "We've already did enough dancing for one night. How about we schedule for another time? Maybe your place perhaps?"

This time, Spider-Man changed his stance from standing to crouching as both four limbs were evenly spread from his body as he looked like he was ready to pounce on her any second.

"All fours, huh? Got to say, you're very straight for-"

Spider-Man was already in front of her without her noticing that he had moved.

"?!" Caught off guard, she was thankfully saved when the web that Spider-Man stuck to the mainframe of the tower started to catch fire that soon made a small explosion.

The explosion produced a dense smoke cover that allowed Black Cat to use to sneak away from Spider-Man.

Thinking that this was enough to escape, Black Cat made three steps to the right and Spider-Man was once again lunging forward to reach her.

Now more prepared, she pushed her body to its limit by countering and deflecting each hit that Spider-Man performed.

' _His attacks are low,'_ He aimed his fist at her legs, but she pushed his forearms so that they will be veered off the target. _'Real low! It's like-'_

Her thoughts were cut short when Spider-Man swung his legs like a pendulum that was heading to hit her legs. Jumping over the attack, Black Cat was in midair for a brief moment that gave Spider-Man the chance to swing his legs upward.

"Tch!" Pressing her arms to block the kick, the impact made her feel like her bones were shaking before she was thrown in further away from Spider-Man.

Still having enough time in the air, she made sure to land on her feet before performing a few backflips to gain more distance between him and herself.

'This guy!' Already heading right back in her personal space, both fighters were dodging and deflecting each other's blows. _'He's really playing the role way too seriously!'_

After fending him off with a wide low sweep, Spider-Man backed off, laid low to the ground, and spread his arm and legs to almost impossible flexibility as if it was natural to him.

' _It's like I really am fighting a spider!'_ Black Cat gritted.

* * *

 _'Stay low, feel her next movement, and trust my spider-sense for what's about to happen next.'_

Darkness was all Spider-Man can see, as he opted to let his spider-sense and his ability to feel vibrations take the front wheel of his body.

When his eyesights became stark white and his ears ringing loudly like the sound of his alarm clock set to full blast, Spider-Man felt completely helpless as he tried his best to get his eyes and ears working. Seconds ticked by, yet in his head, it felt longer as he felt the sounds of thumping that he thought was his heartbeat.

Only it wasn't his heartbeat, but rather, the sound of feet hitting solid floor.

' _She's moving!'_

Bolting to where he felt the vibrations, Spider-Man's spider-sense blared uncontrollably to signal him that he needed to move away from danger.

Trusting his trusty danger sense, he shifted his body to have him on one arm as he raised himself vertically to avoid Black Cat's downward heel strike.

It seemed that even though his eyes and hearing were shot, Spider-Man's superhuman abilities such as his spider-sense and his vibration detection flourished in this situation.

Slightly opening his eyes to try and check if they're starting to work. The spider hero was greeted by blurry images that made him shut his eyes again. _'Come on! I got a face full of explosion before, so why now all of a sudden!?'_

Now, Spider-Man didn't really know what the full effects of a flash grenade will cause to someone, but he was sure that it couldn't last this long.

' _Spiders have many eyes, but they still have poor vision. If I consider my normal eyes as 'spider' eyes, then does that mean that flash made my eyesights even worse?'_

Changing his posture to have him use both arms, the wallcrawler felt his spider-sense scream at him as Black Cat was just a hairs breath away from hitting the back of his head with her fist.

Displaying even more impossible feats of flexibility and agility, Spider-Man bent his lower half over his head and slammed his feet onto Black Cat's head. The force behind the attack forced her to lay down on the cold floor as the blow made her dizzy from Spider-Man's direct hit.

As she was on the floor, he wasted no time as Spider-Man lifted the upper half of his body, pinned Black Cat with his weight, and shot a few webs on her legs and arms.

"Got you!" He said triumphantly. _'And not a moment too soon! My eyes, I'm starting to see again!'_

Sight returning, Spider-Man looked around himself and then at the thief struggling to break free.

' _I need to upgrade these goggles to help me with bright lights. Or maybe I can do that when I make a new costume sometime later.'_

"Hope you like our little play fighting, Cat." Spider-Man taunted. "Cause the only outfit you'll be in will be an orange jumpsuit."

"Is that," She attempted to move her head to look at Spider-Man. "Really your best insult?"

"Dunno," He shrugged his shoulders. "Was that fight the best you could do?"

"I see that your sense of humor is still intact." Black Cat chuckled despite the problems she's having.

"I can say the same to you." He could give credit to where credit is due, Black Cat gave him a challenge with how she made him really push his comfort zone. The only ones that he can compare to her that was just as quick and just as acrobatic was Roman's silent friend, Neo, and Blake.

"I aim to please, Spider. It's not every day a girl like me would get the chance to meet you in the flesh."

"Then I'm happy to be the first one to welcome you to the kingdom." Seeing no reason to be on guard around her. Spider-Man lifted her up from the ground and hoisted her over his shoulder. "Don't worry though, I'm not going to leave you all to your lonesome just yet. I got some friend nearby who are will just love to know that I have a plus one with me!"

Spider-Man wanted to web swing through an open window, but it seemed like the windows were large panes of glass with no discernable opening.

Choosing to use the building's elevator to reach the bottom floor, he stopped just on the down button when he felt some movement under him.

' _Someone is using the elevator? Is it more guards? They seem to be a bit late on the count that all of the soldier up here is knocked out cold.'_

Hearing the _**'ding'**_ to signify the elevator is here, the elevator doors opened wide to show no one inside. It was completely empty, not a single shred of anyone using it to get up to this floor. Stepping inside, Spider-Man just assumed it must have been a malfunction to the button only for another surprise to hit catch him off guard as his spider-sense warned him of danger.

"Again!? Woah-" Out of nowhere, Qrow somehow appeared inside the elevator alongside someone dressed in some red and black suit with a helmet that was silver that looked like some gasmask. The two were wrestling one another with Spider-Man and his prisoner caught inside the cramp elevator space.

"Qrow?!" Spider-Man was now officially confused at what was happening. He thought that Black Cat was the one that could be working for Cinder, but it seemed like there was a second intruder that Qrow was currently fighting.

"Spider-Man!" Qrow caught the fist that was aimed at his face. "Glad you're here! This guy was just about to steal something from the CCT!"

"What are you talking about?!" Taking of the added weight off his shoulder, Spider-Man showed Qrow who he caught. "I thought she was the only one here to steal stuff?"

"Hi, I'm Black Cat," Seeming to not even be fazed by this new event, she just gave the two men a smile. "Nice to meet one of Spidey's friends."

"Wait, wait, wait!" The man that was struggling to hold of Qrow from attack him voiced his concerns. "This is all a mistake and a misunderstanding! I'm not here to steal from Beacon!"

"Then why are you here then?" Spider-Man asked.

Just when he was about to explain, a noise coming from his belt made him panic.

"The belt!" Get out of here before it-"

Spider sense warning him of the danger, the wallcrawler pushed Black Cat behind him, reached over to the belt in hope of throwing it, but just when he saw his hands reach for the device, he saw everything around him becoming bigger.

Not just the belt either, Spider-Man, Qrow, and the man with the weird belt also started to become smaller and smaller. It was at this point that as they continued to shrink, the three were fast approaching to elevator floor with no signs of stopping.

' _I don't think my webs will be long enough to swing!'_

An idea popped into Spider-Man's head to solve this predicament. Webbing Qrow and the mystery man that caused this problem, Spidey attached their webs and wrapped it around his waist, used both wrists to shoot above his head, and the webs that he was forming slowly lowered his decent as what he made was a parachute made of webbing.

Roughly landing on the ground, Spider-Man checked his surroundings and found that his fall made him land out of the elevator.

Said elevator that was closing with Black Cat still inside.

"Now this is just unfair!" Scratching his masked head in frustration, he soon calmed himself down and started to help Qrow with his bindings.

"Thanks for the save, Spider-Man." Qrow said. "I would have just flown, you know."

"Maybe," Spider-Man shrugged his shoulders and looked down at the one who was started this mess. "But right now, this guy here has some explaining to do."

* * *

"Again, I'm telling you the truth that I'm not here to steal anything from Beacon." The man now known as: Ant-Man, told the two the same thing for the past couple of minutes.

All three were back in to normal size, as a show of good faith from Ant-Man. As for Black Cat, she was long gone before any of them could reach the bottom floor of the tower. Even Qrow, with his ability to turn into a bird, didn't see her running on the rooftops, meaning that she could be far away from the academy.

So, the three were using one of the classrooms to chat, not really worry about any students since all of them are still at the dance hall.

"You weren't working with Black Cat?"

"I don't even know her until you showed her to me!"

"Doesn't matter who she is, only what she tried to take is important." Said Qrow. "She did cause some problems with security, mostly against Jimmy's boy scouts, but you still stopped her from what she was after, Spider-Man."

"Yeah, whatever she tried to do was stopped," Pulling out a scroll, he tossed it at Qrow and explained what he thought it could be. "I saw it lying next to her after fighting her. I heard that whoever gave this to her might have some sensitive info inside."

"I'll have my boss look into this," Putting the scroll away, Qrow moved his sights on Ant-Man. "So, regular sized man, what will you do now? I can't really just let you walk away now that you just stumbled upon my school and even stopped us from capturing someone capable enough to take down Atlas personal."

"Look, I'm sorry, ok?" Ant-Man scratched his head. "I didn't even know my belt was badly damaged, so shrinking us wasn't my intention. But since we're all here, I can at least hope to ask for your help, Spider-Man."

"Huh?" Spider-Man looked at Qrow and then at Ant-Man. "My help?"

"Yes, it's something that I need your help with. Something that I can't do alone even with my partner backing me up. I'm even more positive that if you help, then this could get done a lot easier."

Sending a glance at Qrow, the swordsman just gave the hero a nod to humor Ant-Man before taking a swig from his hip flask.

"It's not like I'm going to withhold info to my boss about this. I'll give you two a moment to talk, I'll be heading to get this scroll checked. Try not to get seen by the way, we still have some guards securing the halls."

Stepping out of the classroom, both masked vigilantes were left on their own.

"I know this is out of the blue, but this is really important."

' _This guy is putting out all of this so suddenly. If so, then I can't just ignore his request for my help.'_

"Ok, you have my attention, but I need to know why you're here. Don't repeat what you said earlier, I need tell me the truth."

Contemplating on what to say, Ant-Man went over what he wanted to say before speaking.

"I needed to go inside the CCT to find a certain someone. He's been using fake accounts to ship some dangerous stuff throughout the kingdoms. One of my friends told me that he could be here, but under a fake alias. The CCT was a way for me to actually pinpoint him in a larger radius, but, well, you know the rest."

' _A mysterious person pushing dangerous goods in Vale? I wonder if this person is also working with A.I.M? Still…'_

"I'm sorry, Ant-Man, but your story is way to convenient. What if you're just saying all this just to double cross me when you get what you need from this guy?"

"Then, would you believe me if I told you that this man that I'm after already sent his goons to kidnap my daughter?" That statement made Spider-Man's eyes go wide. "That girl was Cassy Lang, my daughter, and you saved her when I was caught in his trap."

Lifting his hand, Ant Man pushed a button on the side of his helmet to show his face to Spider-Man.

"My name is Scott Lang and I need your help to stop someone from stealing something that could destroy Remnant."

If Spider-Man wasn't already blown away from the fact that this man was the father of the girl he saved, then his mind was in tatters when he showed his identity to him.

' _First Iron Man and now Ant-Man? I can't believe I met another hero this soon.'_

"Wow, Mr. Lang, I didn't expect you to actually show you identity. I'm sorry I doubted you."

"It's fine, I get used to it." He laughed. "I didn't want to tell the other guy all of this, since I'm still not sure who he works for. But, back to what I said! This tech isn't even supposed to be known yet and if he finds a way, then anyone who has this can take over the kingdoms."

"What weapon is it?" Spider-Man Asked.

"A weapon that can pass any fortress, any security, and can even sneak armies without anyone even noticing there even there before it's too late."

Reaching to his belt, Scott opened it so show a small bright light that caused them all to shrink.

"They're called: Pym particles."

* * *

This night was not what Ruby Rose expected it to be.

The dance was still raging, her friends were having a nice time dancing to the music, and yet she was outside her school looking for a certain faunus who couldn't stay put.

' _I thought I saw her here.'_ Was all she could think about as she remembered the silhouette of someone leaving the academy grounds and into the night life of Vale.

Here she was, trying to find Blake, yet the only thing she did was waste her time as she clearly saw no sign of Blake anywhere.

' _That person I saw running on the rooftop and then leaving the school. It must be Blake since she wasn't at the dance, so where is she right now?'_

As her mind continued to wander, Ruby accidently bumped against someone, making her lose her footing.

"Ah!" Just when she was about to fall, a hand reached her shoulder and stopped her from falling.

Silver eyes met a familiar blue and her face morphed into recognition at who she was staring at.

"Ruby!" Jaune said as he helped her back on her feet.

"Jaune!" She smiled. "I'm so happy to meet a familiar face right now. I've been trying to find Blake, but I haven't seen her anywhere."

"Blake isn't at Beacon?"

She shook her head.

"No, I didn't see her at the dance and I thought I saw her leave the school."

Just when Ruby said that, she took a glance at Jaune who was wearing a suit that made her remember he also has a dance at his school.

"How come you're not at your school dance, Jaune?"

"W-well," He tugged his collar. "My friend's date kind of left him on his own and decided to dance with someone else. He left the school, so I kind of tried to find him."

"Oh," She felt bad asking her question. "I'm sorry to bring that up, Jaune."

"It's fine, Ruby," He reassured her. "But hey, since we're both finding our friends, why not find them together?"

' _It does make sense.'_ She thought. _"Ok! Let's start looking! I'm sure we'll find them way faster with two of us working together!"_

They found neither Blake nor Harry.

They searched where their friends could likely be and some where they might never expect to find them. Their search showed no reward and left the two teens exhausted from covering so much ground from the bother of them.

"Ahh~" Ruby rested her head on the dining table where Jaune used to work. With how late it was there was not many customers left and many of the staff was already in the process of closing. "We haven't found ether of them."

Taking her scroll out, Ruby checked the time and banged her head on the table.

"The dance at my school is starting to be over too!"

"Cheer up, Ruby," Jaune remained optimistic. "They can't just suddenly disappear out of thin air. Maybe message your sister or your partner?"

"Maybe you're right," Dialing her sister, Ruby waited to hear the other line answer. "I hope- Yang! Hey, I'm sorry if this is sudden. No, no, I'm fine, I'm sorry of I didn't tell you earlier why I left the dance. I was trying to find Blake, because I thought I saw her leave and-what!? She's there? In our room!? The dance is cut short? Where am I? I'm with Jaune, we're at a diner and-"

Ruby had a surprised look on her face as her scroll call ended.

"She hung up on me." Groaning, Ruby placed her scroll on the table and sipped her cup of water that was given to her by one of the workers. "We searched out here only to find out she was back in the room. Sorry for wasting your time, Jaune."

"No need to apologize. I think Harry is at home resting too." Jaune already knew that Harry was home when Gwen sent him a text letting him know he called her when he and Ruby were on the search for their friends. If he told Ruby before, then she would have asked why he was out of school liker her and Jaune wasn't about to lie even more in case it might make things get worse for him.

' _I just left Beacon after Ant-Man explained to me about his problem with the stolen Pym particles. If I just tried to make another lie, I'm sure Ruby would believe me.'_

Seeing her sad and sulking made the secret hero also sad that she was in this state.

' _No, I've already lied enough tonight. I just want tonight to be normal for a bit.'_

Music could be heard in the diner, making Jaune turn his head to see where it was coming from. The music was coming from a radio that looked to be recently bought. Perhaps it was for the workers to listen to something when cleaning the diner or it was likely that with how the boss had one less worker to pay, I.E. Jaune, she decided to use some of the Lien to get something new.

Jaune went with the latter.

Idea forming, the neatly dress teen looked at his friend who was wearing a cute red dress, got out of his chair, stood next to Ruby, and extended a hand to her.

"Jaune?" At first confused at what Jaune was doing, her face soon exploded bright red when Jaune gently wrapped a hand around hers.

"Come on," He smiled. "We both deserve some fun tonight. Why not here?"

Not seeing any problems with his offer, Ruby got out of her chair and followed Jaune to a bigger space for them to dance in.

"Have you ever danced before?" He asked her.

"No," Ruby looked away in embarrassment. "I'm too focused on weapons handling rather than learning how to."

"Then you're in luck, cause having seven sisters made me very talented when it comes to dancing. Here, let me lead and just follow my steps."

He made sure the pace was slow and easy for Ruby to remember the steps. Jaune was glad that the music had a slow beat and that the singer was singing softly that gave Jaune an image that he and Ruby was actually dancing at his school dance.

"Hey!" It was stopped as the owner of the store stepped out of her office. "What are you two-"

Looking between her former employee and some girl holding hands with him with music in the background.

Rolling her eyes at the display of teen romance, Jaune's former boss pulled out her copy of the keys and tossed it to Juane. "Make sure you close after you're done."

"But I don't work here."

"I'll fire you again tomorrow." Brushing off his remark, she closed the door to the shop and made sure to flip to sign to 'close'.

With the keys now in his possession, the blonde hero tucked it in his pockets and picked up where he left off. Their dancing became smoother and more natural as Ruby was beginning to get more into the song and was getting used to Jaune's pace.

This lasted for a couple of three songs with both teens not saying a word as they simply danced along to each different song. Their eyes sometimes traveled to their feet, the music player, and even other areas in the diner.

But they always go back to staring deep into each other's eyes as they always seem to be drawn to another gaze.

"Jaune." The one to break the silence was Ruby.

"Yes, Ruby?"

"I like this." She said truthfully.

"Yeah, this is nice."

"And jaune?"

"Yes?"

"I think I'm starting to like dancing with you too." Ruby never diverted her eyes from him when she said those words.

"You're staring to like dancing with me? I'm glad I'm not the only one." Smiling, Jaune couldn't help but feel grateful for meeting Ruby on that day they first met. "Because I'm starting to like dancing with you too."

They didn't need any more words to convey their thoughts and feelings. Just the simple sway in their steps and the sound of music was enough for them as they enjoyed each other's company.

It was a dance they didn't know they wanted, but was happy to have either way.

* * *

Back at School, Qrow watched the students who were assigned to be the working party to break down the school dance equipment. The dance was over and the students who weren't assigned to take down the dance equipment began to walk back to their dorms to get some shut eye.

As Qrow continued to watched them take the school's property out of the dance hall and back to storage. The person next to him stood silently after listening to what Qrow told him during his absence.

"You fought an ant?" Ozpin asked, seemingly more focused on the part where Qrow was shrunken down rather than Spider-Man stopping someone from hacking into the communication tower.

"Ants, Ozpin, I fought ants." Pulling out his hip flask, Qrow was about to put it to his lips for a drink and stopped when he looked at the punch bowl that he was standing next to. Taking a paper cut, the drunkard poured some punch and added some alcohol from the flask.

Downing the entire drink, Qrow was going to get a second cup of punch, only to stop a student who was about to take table down along with the contents.

"Leave the bowl." Was his order making the students take everything but the punch bowl and the table it was on. "When I got the call from Spider-Man, I found several Atlas soldiers outside the CCT down and saw this guy pop out of thin air. I tried to stop him, only to be turned small enough that I had to fend off some ants that wanted to eat me."

"He has a semblance that can allow him to shrink." Qrow couldn't tell what Ozpin was thinking with out neutral the headmaster's face looked. "And you say he wasn't working alongside this second intruder Spider-Man fought?"

"Guy shrunk me and Spider-Man down to peas. He could have just left us like that and regrow, but he still helped us. I'll give him a benefit of a doubt and I think Spider-Man is doing the same."

"These are indeed peculiar times. Spider-Man in Vale, Iron Man from Atlas, and I wonder if this… what did he call himself?"

"Ant Man."

"Yes, I wonder if this Ant Man is from a different kingdom entirely. Through out all my lives, this life is having more changes then my previous incarnations."

"That's a good thing isn't? We've been kind of in a stalemate with your old enemy for a while now."

"If change happens, it could be good and bad for both sides. I just hope what you said is true and that this Ant Man could really be an ally. Why didn't you stay longer and pry some questions from him?"

"I got shrunken down to the size of a lint and fought ants, Oz." Dumping the remaining liquor form his flask into the punch bowl, Qrow then started to use the ladle as his method to drink the spiked punch. "This night was more then I bargained for. At least Spider-Man was able to stop the one that tried to steal something from the CCT."

"Yes," Oz looked at the scroll Qrow handed to him. "I'll make sure we can have this looked into if she did steal important information. I trust your judgment and I too hope that Ant Man will help, Qrow."

"You still wanted to see Spider-Man, Right? I'm not sure if he's even here still."

"Have you told him who I am yet?" Qrow nodded his head. "Then it's fine, I trust Spider-Man enough to keep a secret and I'm not mad at you for letting him know before I could meet him. He already showed us he can be of great help, so feel free to get some rest."

"I'll do that, Oz," By the time their talk was done, Qrow was already done with dinking the entire punch bowl. "Have a nice night, Oz. It's a shame that we didn't catch Cinder in the act, but we did stop her little friend from doing whatever she paid her to do."

Walking away from his subordinate, the headmaster of Beacon made his way to his office with the item of interest stuffed inside his front pocket.

Not noticing the scroll's screen light up it showed a chess piece, a black queen chess piece, that just as quickly turned itself back off. At the same time, as Ozpin left Qrow alone at the punch bowl, the red-eyed huntsmen was so busy drinking the contents of the punch that he did not see his scroll automatically light up to show a black queen chess piece.

The queen is now moving on the board.

* * *

 **[A/N]**

 **Not only did Black Cat finally get revealed, there is also Ant Man sharing the spot light! He will be in the next chapter that will delve more into his work and will reveal more of his side story!**

 **After that, we will encounter someone I have shown to be the next villain for Jaune to fight and maybe even push Jaune further than anyone else did before. Hope you liked the chapter and I hope you will like, comment, fav, and comment your thoughts and opinions.**

 **Don't forget to share the same kindness to my Beta for helping me fix my chapter too! Thank you!**


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